Irresistible Hearts
by cyberdemon
Summary: AU! Van is a geek at his school. No one respects or likes him except his only two friends Irvine and Moonbay. he has a crush on the most popular girl in school, Fiona. a chance is then given to him to change. Pairings: VF, IM.
1. painful life

A young male walked down the streets of a small town. He was alone; he was always alone. Except for one person, he had no friends. It had been that way for him ever since his first day of kindergarten. Everyone saw him as a geek. They seemed to make fun of him about what he wears and what he does. He hated it with a passion but he knew that there was nothing that he could do to stop it.

He was an average height for a male; his hair was messy and fell down to his neck. He had the very big misfortune to have to where the large glasses to help him see. He didn't have to wear them all the time but he still decided to wear them a lot. He tended to be a bit shy but that never really bothered him.

There were things in life that he wanted but would never have because of the people that he was forced to go to school with. The way that the people treated him made him feel bad like he didn't deserve to have what he wanted most.

Out of all the days of the year, he liked this one the most. It was the final day of school meaning that after that day he would have a few good months of not being insulted by his classmates. He didn't know why he never tried to fight back. 'It is because I would lose,' he thought bitterly. He wasn't exactly the strongest of people which was why they always like to use him as their favorite punching bag.

"Hey Van, wait up!" yelled his friend Irvine as Irvine ran to catch up with van. Irvine was one of the popular people. He was Van's friend when everyone hated him. No one seemed to bother Irvine about it because Irvine was a very tough person. He was treated with great respect with everyone. There were those that thought badly of him at times because he hung out with Van. It didn't seem to mind though. The two of them had been friends since they were kids, and Irvine didn't seem intent on ending that.

"Hey Irvine," said Van in a quiet tone staring at the ground where he had been kicking a rock. If he had a choice then he wouldn't have gone to school that day. He had this feeling that something bad was going to happen and usually his bad feeling always end up coming true. At least as far as he was concerned it always did. He had no wish to find out what it was that would end up going bad. Not that things couldn't get worse than they already were. Then again, he didn't really want to tempt his fate for the day because he knew things would get worse that way.

It was always the same anyways so he never paid any attention to his troubles too much but he wished more than anything that for once things might actually shape up a little and that life would actually give him a break instead of having people break his stuff, like his glasses.

"Hey Van, why is it that you always act like that?" asked Irvine when he had caught up to Van but Van didn't respond. "That is the type of stuff that I mean, you are too quiet. You need to be a little more aggressive and assertive if you ever want to change," said Irvine with a sigh.

"What good will it do me exactly? Even if I try to change then things will always remain the same. It never matters how hard I try because it doesn't matter to anyone else. I am just sometime to tease, taunt, pick on, and use as a punching bag," Van muttered staring at the ground.

"And it is going to remain like that unless you try and get your act together a little. I mean if a person like Thomas can actually start hanging out with some of the cool people than I am sure that you should be able to. The guy is a total retard. I don't think that anyone really likes him though," said Irvine getting seriously annoyed with how Van was acting at that moment.

"Whatever," muttered Van as he sped up his speed and started to walk even faster towards the school. All he wanted was the day to end so he could go on with a few miserable free months of summer vacation. That was the only solace that he had for the day that could help him get through it.

------

It was the same everywhere he went, the stares, the laughs, and the constant shoving from all of the students around him as he walked through the school. He always ignored it but that seemed to make it worse at times.

Van was suddenly hit very hard in the back, which sent him flying straight towards the floor. His school supplies scattered everywhere and he was pretty sure that he might end up getting a bump because he might have hit his head on the floor. He gave off a low groan as he picked himself off of the floor to look up into the eyes of who had hit him. It turned out to be the jocks of the school. Some of which included Raven, his girlfriend Reese, and tagging along with them like was usual was Thomas wearing a smirk on his face. There were also many other people in the group that took the same pleasure in hurting Van.

"Oh, soooo sorry Van. I guess that I didn't see you there," said Thomas with a smug smirk on his face. He just laughed at Van as if it didn't matter. He didn't even care that at one point he was just like Van. He seemed to like to rub it in how he was capable of getting in with the in-crowd.

Van merely ignored him as he got up and grabbed his stuff. He was about to walk away when he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and pulled back forcefully by Raven. "You know that it is very rude for you to just walk off when people are talking to you, don't you?" asked Raven as he threw Van against a wall.

Van struggled but he wasn't very strong so he wasn't able to get loose. Van then felt the force pulled away from him and he ended up falling towards the ground. He looked up to see Moonbay had come and had pulled Raven off of him. "Hey! Why don't you pick on someone else?" yelled Moonbay tossing Raven off to the side.

"What's the matter Flyheight? Are you now having a woman fight your battles for you?" asked Thomas smirking as Van pulled himself off of the ground. He walked up to Van and punched him hard making him land in a trashcan.

Everyone was laughing at Van now as he pulled himself out of the can and throw a banana peel off to the side. He kept a calm look on his face but for people like Irvine and Moonbay, they knew that he was about to snap. Then again, Van was too passive and wouldn't be able to let himself loose like that no matter how many times that two of them had thought it would be a good idea for him to finally fight back instead of allowing others to hurt him.

"What's going on here?" came a soft voice from off to the side. Every head seemed to turn in that direction to look at Fiona. Fiona was by far the most popular woman in the school. She was also the woman that every man wanted to be with since she was single and didn't seem to want to change that at the moment.

"Ah, Fiona. It is so good to see you," said Thomas standing up very happily and in the process shoved Van hard off to the side. He didn't even bother to look as Van hit his head on the wall. Thomas immediately rushed over to Fiona side where he tried to show off to her. Thomas had the biggest crush on Fiona ever since the moment that he first saw her. The things that he did to get her attention were hilarious and also it was pretty pathetic even for Van.

Fiona was a woman that was usually concerned about everyone's well being even if it was someone that was a geek. Fiona ignored Thomas and walked by him to Van's side. She tired to help him up but he just swatted her hand away. "Hey! I was only trying to help!" yelled Fiona out of anger.

"I don't want any help, I don't need any help!" Van yelled out because he was not in a very good mood at that moment. "Just leave me alone!" yelled Van standing up quickly running off to escape the large crowds that were starting to form around the area. He wanted to get away from it all. He hated it at this school and he wished there was something that he could do to change that.

Van ran out of the school until he reached a tree that was planted on the boarder of the school grounds. He really had no idea why he had lost his temper with her. He had been waiting for any opportunity to be able to talk to her for a while and he had just ruined any chance with her by doing that.

He seemed to run not even caring that school was about to start and that he would be ditching class. He didn't even want to be there in the first place. If he went back then he would have to face his tormentors and that would just send him into more trouble than he wanted.

He came to a stop when he was sure that he was at least a few blocks away from the school. He sat down underneath this large tree that he usually came to when he wasn't feeling too good about his life. It was a comfort to him because his grandmother used to play with him here when he was younger before she died.

"Why is it that everyone has to do that to me?" Van asked removing the glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He set the glasses off to the side with a sigh and leaned against the tree.

"It is because you seem you let them by not fighting back Van," Irvine's voice came making Van sit up and put his glasses back on. "You know, those huge glasses of yours really make you look funny. Why don't you get a smaller pair? Or maybe start wearing contacts?" Irvine asked sitting down next to him.

Van didn't answer him. He really didn't know why he didn't do any of that. His family had plenty of money, so he could definitely afford it. Everyone at his school didn't know anything about it his family's money though. He didn't want their friendship just because they knew that his family was actually very rich.

"Why did you come here Irvine? I am sure that school has started by now," Van said to one of his two only friends. The other one happened to be Moonbay but she didn't seem to be around at that moment.

"Had to make sure you would be alright. You didn't look too good back there. Moonbay told me to go after you while she tried to smooth things out with the teachers since you left school," Irvine said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why did you act like that to Fiona? She was only trying to help you," Irvine pointed out but he could see the sadness in his friends' eyes.

"I don't know why I acted that way. I should have been happy that she was concerned about me. I wasn't in the best of moods though. I guess I was looking for a way to vent my anger. I didn't mean for it to be on her though," Van said. He happened to have a crush on Fiona like everyone in school but he never had the courage to talk to her.

"Under normal circumstances, I am sure that you would have been ecstatic about it. Thomas was being a really big ass though like always," Irvine said shaking his head in frustration. An idea suddenly came to Irvine something that he could do to help Van. "I can help you Van," Irvine said simply.

Van sat up and looked at Irvine with a confused look on his face. "I don't think that there is a things that you could possibly do to help me with my problem," Van said turning his attention back in front of him before leaning against the tree once again.

"You are being a little too pessimistic. That is one of your first problems. If you want, I can help you change the image that people see you as," Irvine said turning his head to look at his friend.

Van didn't know what to say. Irvine was offering him a way to make people maybe think differently of him. He somehow didn't think that things would work as well as Irvine put it. Some people just wouldn't change opinions of a person very easily. He thought that maybe it would be worth a try. 'Maybe it can make Fiona notice me,' Van thought. "Sure," he said with a sigh.

"Good! Starting tomorrow, I will be your personal trainer. I am sure that Moonbay will help. She could possibly give you a whole new look that could drive women wild," Irvine said with a smirk before standing up. "We had better head back before we get in more trouble than we are already in. Moonbay can only do so much," he said and watched as Van slowly nodded and stood up before they walked back to the school.

'I just have to finish today and then I won't have to put up with those people for the rest of the summer. Maybe if what Irvine is doing actually helps, then I won't have to put up with as much taunting from now on,' he thought with a small smile as he followed Irvine back.


	2. new look

Van somehow managed to get through the rest of the day. Thanks to Irvine threatening anyone who would pick on him, Van managed to go the rest of the day without being picked on.

Now school was finally out for the summer and Van was free from the most painful place in his life. He didn't have to see anyone but his friends for the rest of the summer. Not to mention Irvine was planning to start training him. He wondered what the final result of it would end up being.

By the time that the next morning came around, Van was actually almost anxious to get started with whatever it was that Irvine had planned for him. He wanted to get started as soon as possible. He was never so anxious about anything in his life. He wasn't sure as to why this was.

Thoughts of all kinds were going through Van's head as he walked down the sidewalk towards Irvine's mansion. They were both rich because their fathers were partners in a business they had been in for many years.

The thought he was having were things like what he was going to go through, what the results would be, and how would people react to whatever it was that Irvine had planned for him. Van did have every intention on going through whatever it was. He wanted to become the type of person that Fiona would actually notice. He didn't really care what everyone else thought of it.

Van came up to the front door of Irvine's place at the time that Irvine had wanted him to come over at. His hand reached for the doorbell but he hesitated for a bit and pulled his hand back before he could finish it. He regained himself and pressed the doorbell and waited for an answer.

It wasn't long that he had to wait before an elderly man opened the door. It was their servant Dave. He was about 65 years old and had been working for their family for years. He really seemed to enjoy his job though.

"Greeting Mr. Flyheight. Irvine is upstairs and waiting for you," the man said with a smile as he moved out of the way allowing Van to walk into the huge mansion that he had been in many times before.

Van began his long trek up the many flights of stairs that led to Irvine's room. There house was three stories tall and Irvine's room happened to be on the very top. He always did like this thing for heights and Van was almost the exact same way because it was almost the same at his place.

Van laughed slightly when he heard music blasting from Irvine's room. 'Leave it to Irvine to allow the whole world to listen to what he is listening to,' Van thought before walking into the room before even knocking. He walked over to the stereo and turned it off before Irvine even noticed that he was in the room.

"What the!" Irvine said finally looking in the direction of the stereo. "Oh it's just you. I was beginning to wonder when you were planning on showing up. So are you ready to get started. As soon as Moonbay arrives, we will get to work on you," Irvine said looking Van up and down in a slightly disgusted way.

The two of them sat down and talked for a while before Moonbay came barging into the room with a broad smile upon her face. "Hey there you two, sorry that I am late but I couldn't get out of my house fast enough," she said taking a seat in a chair that was next to Van.

"Alright Van. Here is the deal. Over this summer we are going to completely redo who you are. Give you more confidence in yourself and your abilities," Irvine pointed out while trying to think of what they should first start out with. "First off, lose the glasses, you look like an idiot," Irvine said staring at the huge glasses that Van wore. "From now on you will start wearing contacts if you need to or a better looking pair of glasses which we will choose," Irvine said standing up and walking towards Moonbay.

"While Irvine is going to be working on toughening you up a lot, I am going to be working on your image a lot. You need to give off a better appearance if you want someone like Fiona to actually take notice of you. I don't think that she really looks at outer appearance though, but it always helps," Moonbay said with a smirk.

Van was starting to wonder what it was that he was getting himself into. 'No! I will do anything that they ask me to do. Maybe it will actually make everyone stop taunting me,' he thought with a serious look.

"First off, you need a haircut and a new style for it. Then we are going to burn all of your clothes and get you new ones. Irvine here says he will try to teach you charm but I think that it will be best if you left something like that up to me," Moonbay said earning her a glare from Irvine. "By the way Irvine, did you get the person that I asked you about?" Moonbay asked seriously.

"It was easy enough to get a stylist in here. I just had to call a few people. She will be able to figure out what Van really needs, you just work with your other tasks," Irvine said with a smirk. "Lets go Van, that will be the first thing that we will do is give you a much needed haircut," Irvine said as him and Moonbay grabbed Van and started to drag him to a different room of the house.

They barged into a room where someone was already waiting for them. "Is this the patient?" the woman asked with a heavy French accent. "You were right, he is in definite need of my help," the woman said when Irvine and Moonbay shoved Van into a chair.

The woman was a very beautiful woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties. Her hair was up in a messy bun with a few strands of hair falling loose over her neck and her forehead. She was medium height only coming up to Van chin if he was standing.

"Yes he is, do you think there is any hope for him?" Irvine asked with a laugh at the sour look that Van was giving him. He didn't really see it though because he was too busy checking out the stylist, which was earning him a glare from Moonbay.

"When I am done with him, then he will already be a whole new person. There is no such thing as impossible for me," she said circling around Van like a predator waiting for its prey. She was trying to figure out what it was that would look best on the young me. "I got it!" she said after a few minute of looking at Van.

She wrapped Van up so that the hair she was about to cut wouldn't fall on him and she pulled out a pair of scissors and then set to work on her idea. She grabbed some of Van's hair and snipped a good amount off of it shorting it considerably. She repeated this many times until his hair was a great deal shorter everywhere. She left a bit falling at the bottom of his head and shaved that area so that the hair was even sorter there than the rest of it.

She put her scissors away since she didn't need them anymore and then pulled out some gel and a comb. Squeezing some gel onto her hand, she worked it into Van hair and then used the comb to spike up his hair. Then she grabbed the hair at the bottom of his head and made a rattail out of it.

Irvine and Moonbay were impressed with how much of a change Van had gone through with only the haircut. They wondered what the rest of their ingenious plan would do to him.

"I am finished," the woman said with her heavily accented voice. She stepped back to admire her work. "It suit you," she said holding up a mirror for Van to see himself in. He liked his hair like this as well.

"Wow Van, I didn't know you could look like this with all of that hair in the way," Moonbay said in an impressed voice as the stylist left the room because she got a call almost as soon as she was done with Van. "Why don't you forget about Fiona and come with me," she said but only as a joke. She didn't actually mean it and she knew that Van knew that.

Van stood up and looked at himself in the large mirror that was in the room. He looked so different from what he was used to. It was a pleasant change for him and he wondered if it would be a pleasant one for everyone else.

"Alright, haircut, check!" Irvine said going over a mentally list of what he had prepared. "Now all that we need to do is get you some decent clothes. That way you will actually have a good appearance out in public. I know just where to go, Moonbay will also help out because she knows what women would want better, not to mention what Fiona would want since they are friends," Irvine said with a smile turning towards the door.

Van was about to follow before Irvine stopped as if remembering something and pulled something out of his pocket before throwing it to Van. Van looked down at them and noticed that it was a case that more than likely had a pair of contacts within them. He didn't exactly have bad vision but he didn't have great vision either.

"Wear those because there is no possible way that I am going to give you back those horrible looking glasses," Irvine said before leaning against a wall and waiting for Van to put them in. Van disappeared for a minute before he came back. After confirming that he had then in, the three of them walked out of the room.

------

Taking Irvine's car, it only took them about fifteen minutes before they reached the destination that Irvine and Moonbay had planned out. It was a rather large department store in the middle of the city. The city was big but they mainly lived in a smaller, quieter, better-looking park a few miles away from there.

"Moonbay, you take over from here," Irvine said pointing to all of the clothes towards and excited Moonbay. She was never this interested in this sort of thing before but she was excited at the thought of working her magic to help her poor, helpless friend.

"Gotcha! Lets go Van!" Moonbay said grabbing a hold of his shoulder before dragging him towards the section of clothes for Vans size. They were all really casual clothes. Nothing that was too fancy, yet they were very comfortable to have on.

Moonbay seemed to be the only one doing anything as she shuffled through the different racks of clothes, occasionally pulling out some clothes and throwing them to either Irvine or Van who were merely flicking through the different clothes that were around them.

After what seemed like an hour and nearly burying both Van and Irvine with the clothes that she threw to them, Moonbay felt satisfied that what she had picked out would work well for now. "I think that is good enough, all you have to do it try them on and then we will see which of them works best. Either that or we are going to buy everything," Moonbay feeling a need to burn a lot of Irvine's cash since he was the one that was funding all of this.

Van groaned a little. 'What the heck have I gotten myself into? This is going to take hours to finish and I am already tired," Van said as he was forcefully shoved into the dressing room.

He looked at the large pile of clothes and groaned again. He just started to take some random clothes out of the pile and started to put them on hoping that he could get done with this as soon as possible. After quickly putting on a shirt and a pair of jeans that he thought looked ok together, he walked out because Moonbay had told him she wanted to see what he looked like before they decided.

Moonbay was sitting down in a chair that was next to the dressing room and let out a yawn before she heard the door to the dressing room open and a man she hadn't seen before come out. "That can not possibly be Van," she said, as she looked him over. He had on a pair of blue jeans that looked like they weren't too loose yet not too tight at the same time. The shit that he put on was a gray shirt that was black at the top from the neck of it to the ends of the sleeves.

Irvine walked up to him with a quirked eyes brow. He reached out his hand before poking Van in the side as if trying to make sure that it was still the same man that he saw just yesterday dressed in the geekiest way possible. "Van?" he asked poking the man before him again.

Van didn't know exact what to say but "Yeah?" He saw the shocked looks on their faces and looked towards the mirror. If he weren't himself, he wouldn't have known that it was him. It was such a huge change from what he was used to wear but very comfortable at the same time.

Moonbay was getting excited once again and pushed Van back into the dressing room. He came out a few minutes later but this time he was wearing a pair of kaki pants and a blue shirt that had a picture of a tiger on the chest.

"Hmmm… the pants look pretty good with that shirt I would say. What would you say about it Irvine?" Moonbay asked turning towards him and he merely nodded in response to his question. "Very well then, why don't you head back in and try on the rest," Moonbay said pushing him back in.

This went on for at least thirty minutes to an hour. Van felt that Moonbay had picked out way too many clothes before she first shoved him in there. It was finally over and he gave a sigh of relief after showing them the last of the clothes that Moonbay had picked out for him.

He was about to head back into the dressing room and change back into his regular clothes for the moment because he was almost sure that Irvine and Moonbay were going to make him change into some of the new clothes that he was getting as soon as they possibly could.

An annoying voice that made all three of them shuddered suddenly filled the room as the source of it started to approach them. "This has got to be a first, Irvine and Moonbay not seen without the company of the geek Van," Thomas said looking from Irvine to Moonbay and then to the third person but not taking much notice of him because he didn't recognize him.

Van felt the need to bite his cheek to stop himself from laughing. In just one day, Thomas couldn't even recognize a person that he had gone to school with for the past few years. He couldn't blame him because Van was very surprised how much he had changed in looks over one day.

"Oh he is around here somewhere," Moonbay said casting a quick glance in Van's direction without the idiot Thomas noticing. She wondered what his reaction would be when he saw Van. The two of them never got along with each other, even before Thomas started to hang out with his brother and his friends giving him a feeling like he was in the popular crowd. She could just imagine his reaction and each one of them was finnier then the last.

"Whatever, It is not like I want to see that geek anyways. I have a lot better things to do," Thomas said turning around and walking towards the exit of the store much to their relief. He was really being annoying so they were glad that he left.

"It is not like he will be any competition for Fiona so things will be a lot easier for you Van," Irvine said turning around only to find that Van was already getting changed in the dressing room back into his horrid clothes since they had to pay for the ones they chose before he could wear.

"Step one complete. Now the hard part comes," Irvine muttered remembering all that he had planned out for the summer. Each was probably going to be harder than the last when it came to Van.


	3. training

Van, Irvine, and Moonbay arrived back at Irvine's place around six that evening. It may be getting late in the day but Irvine wasn't finished for the day. He had one thing that he wanted to do before the day ended. This would help him decide on how to go about with the next tasks that he had in mind.

"Alright Van, we have one more thing to do today before I am going to let you go. I want to do a few tests that will help me find out your skills," Irvine said looking through one of the bags for a specific pair of clothes that they picked out for just this occasion even if Van didn't know about it.

After searching for a few seconds, he found what he was looking for and pulled out a plain white sleeveless shirt, and a pair of dark blue shorts. "Put these on, I will wait here while you do that," Irvine said before throwing them at Van only to have Van miss them. He knew one thing to work on already.

Van looked at them before looking back at Irvine. He was confused but he decided to just do as he was told and walked towards a bathroom that was close to there so that he could get changed in private.

Irvine waited for only about a minute or two before Van came out in the clothes that he handed to him. "Follow me," Irvine said while Moonbay moved past them so that she could get rid of Van's old clothes so that Van would never have to wear them again.

Irvine walked towards an area in the back of his house. They came upon a door and Irvine opened it to show a huge weight room filled with almost any equipment that anyone could think of. This was the reason that Irvine was as fit as he was.

"The last thing that we will do today is test your abilities in all sorts of different tests using the equipment that you see here," Irvine said indicating all the stuff around him. "This will help me determine how I will be training you for the next few months," Irvine said walking on towards a medicine ball.

Irvine picked up the ball with ease and looked at it for a second. "Here catch," Irvine said tossing the ball to Van while Van had a look like that was too easy. The ball soared through the air and Van attempted to catch it but it hit him and he fell backwards quickly while Irvine burst out in laughter.

"Not funny Irvine!" Van yelled throwing the ball with difficulty off to the side before standing up and dusting himself off. "You could have given me some warning," Van said glaring at Irvine.

"That wouldn't be any fun. Besides, I thought you would have known what that was. It is a weighted ball," Irvine pointed out with a laugh before he turned his attention towards some different equipment. "Come here Van," Irvine said before walking off again. He walked over to a weight set and knew that Van had at least some idea what he was supposed to do.

"So you want me to bench press?" Van asked and all that he received as an answer from Irvine was a slight nod of his head. Van knew that this was probably not going to turn out too pleasantly.

"We will start out with a light weight by only putting on two twenty five pound weights on. That would make it ninety five pounds all together. I hope that you can handle that," Irvine said and indicated for Van to lie down upon the bench.

Irvine watched as Van got onto the bench and laid down upon his back. "Now just put your hands on the bar… a little out… a little in... that is the right way to hold it," Irvine said trying to correct the way that Van was holding the bar. "Now I just want you to do one of these, we will do this until we find out how much you can actually do," Irvine said.

Van put every bit of strength that he could behind the bar and was barely able to lift it a few inches before it fell back to its original position. He heard Irvine groan in frustration and knew that they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"This is one of the easiest weights around. I can't believe that someone your age can't even lift it," Irvine said rub his hand across his face in frustration. "We will keep doing this tonight until you are able to finish this easy set," he said and got behind the bench to give Van a little help if it is necessary but he was determined to make sure that he did this himself. He wanted to make it so that Van could lift three to four times as much weight as this by the end of the summer.

Van attempted to do it again. He wasn't sure if he was going to do it or not but he was determined to accomplish this. Grabbing a hold of the bar again, he took a deep breath before pushing with all of his might to get it up. He failed to do it once again but managed to get it a bit higher than his last attempt.

"Better but it is not good enough. I will make you be able to lift a few times as much as this by the end of the summer, but you will never be able to do that if you can't even lift this small amount of weight," Irvine said growing more and more frustrated by the moment. He just hoped that his attempts wouldn't be in vain by the end of the summer.

"I think that I may know of a way to help. Don't hold your breath while you are doing this. Be sure that you breathe in when the bar comes down and breathe out when you push it up. Got it?" Irvine asked and received a nod from Van. Irvine stood back but was still ready to help in case Van ended up dropping the bar on himself.

Van found more determination this time and once again grabbed a hold of the bar. He took in the breath that Irvine had suggested and pushed the bar out while breathing out. He found it to be a little easier and this time he was able to list the bar all the way up. He still struggled quite a bit but he was glad that he could do it this time.

"It is about time that you managed to do it. You still seemed to be struggling quite a bit. I am sure that we are going to be doing this a lot so you had better get used to it," Irvine said as Van stood up and massaged his already sore arms.

Irvine walked on to a punching bag. "I want you to punch this with all of your might. I need to see how much power you can put into your punches," Irvine said standing away from the bag while Van walked up to this.

Van stood in front of the bag looking at Irvine like he had two heads. "Whatever. I think this is stupid though," Van mumbled as he clenched his hand into a fist and brought it up into the bag hard. The thing didn't even budge and all that Van got out of it was a very sore hand.

Van hand shot back from the bag immediately and he held it with his other hand trying to sooth it. He shook it for a second before putting his hand down and tried to ignore it.

"You really are pathetic Van. No wonder why people like to pick on you, you have no strength of your own in order to fight back. It gives them a feeling of power to know that you are weaker then them and that they can get away with it because you don't do anything about it," Irvine explained taking a seat while rubbing his head. He just knew this will end up being a long summer of training.

"I guess that I just can't help it. Irvine can I ask you a question?" Van asked and looked at Irvine and noticed that he nodded his head. "Do you think that this will actually work? Will this finally make people like me?" van asked thinking that maybe it was just a hopeless effort for them.

"It all depends on if you want it bad enough. When people set their minds on things and strive hard in order to accomplish them, then they can make almost anything happen," Irvine said standing up. Irvine then stood up and faced towards van. "Now my question for you is if you will be able to make the effort that is needed for you to change?" Irvine asked.

Van thought about it for a second before he nodded his head. "I am willing to do this. I just need yours and Moonbay's help to get through it," Van said standing up and looking at all of the equipment that was around him.

"Sure thing, we will give you the help that you need when you need it. For right now though," Irvine said and paused for effect. "We eat," he said and Van groaned in frustration. "Hey, you can't work on an empty stomach. I am going to go raid the fridge, you can come if you want," Irvine said walking out of the room leaving Van all to himself.

* * *

The two of them didn't do anything for the rest of the night and decided that they would get started the next Morning. Moonbay had already left so she wasn't there to talk about it with them.

Van was more than happy when he came home because he had been dragged all over the place that day and all that he wanted to do was rest. He couldn't help but think more over on his current situation.

Irvine and Moonbay were offering him a chance of a lifetime. Giving him a chance to have a new start and possibly gain the attention of the one person that he had wanted for so long. The two of them went to the same school since they started but she never showed any sort of interest in him and he couldn't blame her because he didn't really stand out amongst people.

Thomas had noticed her around the same time as Van. Neither really cared up until they started junior high school. It was then that they really started to notice how beautiful she was becoming and how kind hearted she really was. It made both of them want her.

Thomas and him had different views on her though. If Fiona would give him a chance, Van could definitely say that she was someone who he could possibly fall in love with. Thomas however was different. He seemed to only look at her as some sort of possession. It angered Van the way that he acted around Fiona. He looked at her with only lust within his eyes, like she was some sort of sex toy.

Van pushed all thought out of his head and laid down in his bed. Just thinking about what Thomas thinks of Fiona was starting to piss him off. He swore that one day when he was ready; he would knock that confident smirk off that posers face.

Van slowly closed his eyes before falling asleep but it felt to him that almost as soon as he closed them he was shaken awake. He groggily opened his eyes and noticed Irvine and Moonbay standing over him. He jumped out of his bed in surprise but still not completely awake.

He looked over to his alarm clock and saw that it was barely five in the morning. "You do know that it is barely five in the morning, right?" Van asked with a groan before falling back onto the bed and after throwing his pillow over his head attempted to fall back asleep.

"Sure I do," Irvine said pulling the pillow off of Van's head. "No one said that this was going to be easy Van. You are going to end up doing things that you don't normally do if you plan to make it through the summer. Now get up because I have a lot planned for the rest pf the day so we are going to get an early start," Irvine said before throwing Van off the bed. "Get up, and get dressed so we can get started," he said before walking out of the room. Moonbay followed shortly after him with the same smirk. Those two were too much alike for Van's liking.

* * *

Van was slouching and still half asleep as they returned to Irvine's private little gym at his place. It was still complete darkness and on these days, Van liked to sleep until nearly noon, yet here he was up this early in the morning. He could just his parents' faces when they learned he was gone. They would probably assume that he was kidnapped.

"By the way, there is no need to worry; your parents already know that I was going to be waking you up this early for this. They actually seemed excited to see that you were trying to change. They actually seemed worried by the way you used to act," Irvine said almost as if he was reading van's mind.

Van groaned, he was hoping that he might be able to use that as an excuse later to get out of whatever it was that Irvine planned for him today. Now he was stuck in whatever torture it was that Irvine had planned for him.

"First off we are going to do some lifting and try getting some muscles on those scrawny bones. Then later, Moonbay and I have a special training we plan to do," he said with a smirk because he knew it was something beyond Van's abilities right now. That was the reason that they were doing this, to help Van get over his weaknesses.

Irvine remembered an argument he had with Moonbay on the issue before they got started the previous day. She thought that it might be a bad idea to change Van to such as drastic extent. What Irvine had replied to her was that they weren't trying to turn him into a different person but just an improved one of himself. They were trying to change what it was that people picked on him about since he didn't try to do anything.

Van had very little fashion sense so they planned to just give him a new look. No physical strength so they were going to train him so that he could defend himself if needed. They also planned to give him some more social skills by giving him some confidence in himself. They weren't trying to change his personality or anything, just give him the ability to give people a chance to actually like him.

The thing was that they could only do little, what they were doing was giving him the ability to gain other trust in him on his own. Many wouldn't take to him that easily, never in Thomas's case but who cared about him anyways. He was giving up little but gaining everything in return.

"What is it that you want me to do?" Van asked. He may have been tired as hell but he wanted to do this. It was a change that he was willing to accept if only to get the people to stop taunting him.

It was then that Van noticed that Irvine was dressed in a similar outside to his own. "Were you planning on joining in?" Van asked and only received a nod from Irvine while he was tightening his shoe laces.

"Yeah, I figure that I can get a good work out as well," Irvine said standing up straight. "Here will be the plans for the days, first thing in the morning we will wake up and go for a jog. It will start out small at first but will gradually increase as the time passes. We will then do some weightlifting and try to put some muscles on those scrawny bones of yours. After that I will be teaching you how to fight, or more of self defense. That is how the days are going to go for the next few months until I feel you are ready for the final step," Irvine said walking towards the door.

"Final step? What's the final step?" Van asked but Irvine chose to ignore him and walk out the door. Van just gave a sigh before he followed him out of the door, where the start of his torturous training would begin.


	4. the final step

Irvine watched as Van continued with his exercises. It had been over a month now since they started his training and Irvine had to admit that he was impressed with how much Van had improved. He was still scrawny but he was definitely a lot stronger than he was before.

Irvine knew that he really had to work on Van's strength because he was already very quick and had good endurance when it came to running. Now he was gaining a good amount of strength to go along with it.

'If I don't watch out, then he might even become stronger than me. Lets see what I can do until school starts in a month. I am sure that people will be really surprised with his change. I wonder what Fiona will think of it,' he thought as he sat back in his seat and just watched Van.

"Quite an improvement from the boy who kept getting thrown in trashcans all last year," Moonbay said highly amused as she walked over to Irvine and sat down in a chair that was next to his. "When are you planning to complete the training? July is almost over and school starts in September. You had better hurry up," Moonbay said as she too watched Van.

"It will be soon. There are still a few things that I plan to do before we get to that. It is probably the most difficult part. Don't want to rush him into it," Irvine said with a chuckle while turning his head to Moonbay.

"Oh please, even you can't get it right," Moonbay said and chuckled at the fake hurt look upon Irvine's face. "This is definitely a good change for him. No matter what we have done, he is still the same him, just improved. I say that we make him pay for helping him," Moonbay said rubbing her hands together.

"No," was all that Irvine said to that shocking Moonbay a little. "We are not just doing this for him and you know that. We are doing this for Fiona as well. She could definitely use someone like Van after…" Irvine said but didn't want to finish.

"I know what you mean. I think he is ready for the last part though, he is already close to strong enough to beat up most of the people in our school. Let's see them pick on him now," she said and was happy when Irvine nodded his head reluctantly.

"Fine, fine," he said as he stood up and walked towards Van. You have improved quite a bit Van. Moonbay and I think that it may be about time to put you to the ultimate test," he said knowing that this was going to be very amusing.

Van looked at Irvine with a slightly nervous expression. "What exactly would that be?" he asked with a nervous chuckle. He gulped when Irvine just grinned even more while looking down at Van.

"We are about to give you something that is far beyond your abilities. Personally I don't think you can do it but I guess we will just have to see won't we Moonbay?" Irvine said and Moonbay nodded her head in agreement. He looked at Van and saw how nervous he was. This made him smirk even more.

* * *

Van looked between Irvine and Moonbay with a panicked look on his face. "You have got to be kidding me. Please say that you are just joking. I just don't think that I can do that!" he said in a panic when he finally learned what it is that his to so-called friends had in store for him.

Irvine looked between Van and the target that they had for Van to use. "Afraid not Van! This is the most important part. It really isn't all that hard for you to do. What is the worst that can happen?" Irvine asked as he sat in a seat inside of a café where they had taken Van.

"Irvine, you know perfectly well that I end up screwing up every time I try and talk to a pretty woman. Not you Moonbay. I know you so it is easier," Van said when Moonbay looked a little miffed about what he said.

"Exactly the reason that we need to do this. If you can't even talk to a woman like that then maybe you are setting your sights a little high for Fiona. All you have to do is just walk over there, flirt a little, and ask her over to your place," Irvine said with a chuckle before he got nailed over the head by Moonbay.

"You idiot! We are trying to help Van get over his shyness, not make it so we are setting him up for a huge rejection!" Moonbay yelled throwing Irvine into the ground rather roughly. "Honestly, you don't know anything about women!" she yelled kicking him once before stopping.

Irvine groaned as he got up and rubbed his head where a bump was forming. "If I don't know anything about women, then how did I get you?" he asked only to earn another blow over the head.

Irvine and Moonbay had been going out for about a year before then, but they acted like an old married couple with all the arguing that they did. They were too much alike which was the problem at times.

Moonbay sighed before she turned back to Van. "Alright Van. Take from a woman. Don't ever do what Irvine says in this situation. All that you have to do is just try walking over there, talk to her clearly, try complimenting her, and start with simple conversation. Don't ever ask her what Irvine said for you to say!" she said glaring towards Irvine. "Now go!" she said before pushing Van in the direction.

"This should be interesting but I am sure that Rosa will get his confidence up. Thank god she was willing to help. Van is scared of rejection," Irvine said getting up while rubbing his head.

"Yeah, well I say that this is rather cruel to both of them. Rosa has a crush on Van even if he doesn't know her, yet she knows what we are planning. Van is just using her to gain confidence," Moonbay growled out as she sat down hard in her seat as she watched Van walk towards her slowly and nervously.

"Not at all. I actually have this other friend who is about our age. Rosa has met him and she likes him a lot to, probably more than Van although she has known of Van longer. In fact, if I am not mistaken, she even told me that she liked my friend better than Van once. I said that if she would help, that I would set up a date between them. She was rather enthusiastic about it. Everyone is winning in this situation," Irvine said sitting down and watching in amusement as Van walked towards her before suddenly changing direction and walking away.

Moonbay giggled a bit at what Van did. "He is hopeless. This is going to take a lot longer than we thought. I wonder what Van will say when we tell him that it was a setup," Moonbay said looking towards Irvine as Van circled around and walked into the café from the outdoor area.

"I will tell him eventually, but only after he manages to get Fiona. If he doesn't, then he will never know. He needs a confidence boost, that is the only way he will be able to talk to Fiona," Irvine said with a chuckle as Van walked back to the table.

"You and I both know that Van won't be changed so easily. He will probably still be a bit scared if he actually does try to talk to Fiona," Moonbay said but then shut up once Van approached the two of them. "Nice try. Next time, actually say something," Moonbay said rubbing her head.

"Now you are going to go over there and say something and we won't let you do anything until you do," Irvine said standing up and walking towards the direction that Van had fled to only a few moments before. 'He is not going to make the same mistake twice,' Irvine thought with a smirk as Moonbay pushed Van forward and blocked the only other escape.

Van groaned and pleaded with them silently with some sort of sympathy. He didn't like the 'Not a chance' looks that the two of them were giving him. He just wanted to get out of there at any costs. He looked around but saw that Irvine and Moonbay had the only escapes blocked.

'Why me?' Van asked himself feeling himself shake as he stumbled over to the girl that appeared to be only about his age. He had no idea what he was going to say. He didn't know what to say to women that he didn't know. He always got tongue tied.

Van somehow managed to find himself standing right by the table while blushing several shades of red. He saw her look away from her menu and towards him, and he gulped. "H-hi," he managed to stutter out feeling like a complete idiot. He swore then that he would kill Irvine and Moonbay later in the day.

"Hello," the girl said looking at Van curiously with a rather blank look upon her face. She noticed Van open and close his mouth over and over but no words came out of his mouth. "Hello?" she asked wondering if his mind was still there. It was rather annoying that he wasn't saying anything.

Van was blushing profusely and he could hear Irvine laughing his head off from where he was standing. "Hi," he repeated finding the only word of his vocabulary that he could manage to stutter out.

Irvine laughed even more when he saw Rosa roll her eyes. 'She isn't making this easy for Van. All for the better though,' he thought and saw Van turn towards him silently asking if he could leave yet. Irvine just shook his head no with a smirk on his face.

Van groaned and turned back to the young woman before him. He knew he had to say something besides hi or else he would be stuck doing this for the rest of the day or until the woman decides to leave. "Um… excuse me," he finally managed to say.

Rosa looked up towards Van with a look that said that she was listening to him. She noticed how nervous he looked so she decided to say something. "Yes, what is it?" she asked setting her menu down upon the table.

Van looked towards Irvine and Moonbay for help but they were looking the other way, he could tell that they were listening in though. He gave a small whine as he turned back towards her. "IsawthatyoulookedlonelysoIwaswonderingifIcouldjoinyou," he managed to say in one breath and he felt really stupid afterwards.

Rosa had absolutely no idea what he had just said. He eyebrow quirked upwards in confusion as she looked at the nervous Van. "Come again? Please say it slower this time," she said with her head in the palm of her hands. She found it rather amusing and annoying at the same time.

Van felt like a total idiot and he could hear both Irvine and Moonbay chuckling at the small scene. He felt more nervousness coming on but he took a breath and said what he said before, a lot slower. "I said, I saw that you looked lonely so I was wondering if I could join you," he said before glaring at his two so-called friends. He was surprised when he saw Moonbay giving him the thumbs up.

Rosa looked at him for a second before a small smile crossed her face. "Sure," she said pointing towards the seat across from her. "By the way, my name is Rosa. What is yours?" she asked picking up her menu.

Van let off a sigh of relief as he sat down in the seat. "It's Van," he managed to say as he tried to slow down his fast paced heartbeat. It had been pounding a number of times faster than normal since he first walked up to the table.

* * *

Van walked into his room later that night and feel down on his bed with a thump. 'Next time I run into Irvine, I am going to kill him,' Van thought and he knew that Irvine knew that because he avoided Van for the rest of the down after his stupid plan at the café.

It hadn't gone too badly but Van felt stupider than ever while he was trying to talk to Rosa. He somehow knew the rest of the summer was going to be like that and he wasn't really looking forward to it. He was really wishing School would start right now.

Van sat up in his bed when he heard his parents talking down the hall. He hadn't seen them since Irvine started this escapade and he was regretting it because his parents sounded worried when they talked about him though.

"I am worried about Van. We haven't seen him at all since school ended. When he isn't sleeping, he is out and leaves too early in the morning than is normal. Then when he comes home, he goes straight to his room saying very little to each of us," he heard his mother Tina say in a worried voice.

"He is a growing boy honey. I think it is a good thing that he is getting out more. Normally he just stays in his room all day without speaking to anyone. Although I do admit that I am worried to," his father Dan said as he tried to console his worried mother.

Van looked towards his clock and noticed that it was only seven o'clock, meaning that dinner was just about ready. He hadn't been home at this time in the past month since he left really early and got home really late so he always ended up missing dinner. He definitely missed his mother cooking, which she insisted on doing instead of a cook.

'Maybe I should eat with them today since I haven't been able to in such a long time. I'll bet that they will be surprised to see how much my looks have changed,' Van thought as he walked towards the door and opened it to find an empty hallway.

Van walked down the stairs and towards the dining area. He could hear both of his parents since they were already there. He could also hear Maria, who had graduated college last year and was trying to spend a lot of time with the rest of his family. He obviously wasn't allowing her to do that.

He opened the door to the dining room and it caught everyone's attention since he hadn't eaten with the in weeks. All of their heads turned towards him and they each had a surprised look on their face as they laid their eyes on him.

"Van?" her mother asked looking at him wondering if it was actually her son or not. She blinked a few times and looked at her husband and daughter wondering if she was seeing things but the looks on their faces told her that she wasn't seeing things.

Van looked at his father who was looking at him with slightly impressed eyes and Maria was jaw had nearly dropped to the floor at the sudden change in her baby brother. He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Hey everyone, long time no see," he said with a small chuckle as he took a seat across from his sister.

"Good lord, that is quite a change Van," Maria managed to say as she stared at her younger brother. Just a few weeks ago, he was only her dweeb of a little brother but now he looked so much different than she had ever imagined.

"She's right Van. It is quite an improvement if I do say so myself. Maybe now you will get a girlfriend," his father said in a joking voice. "Let me guess, Irvine and Moonbay put you up to it?" he asked since he knew that those two would definitely do something like that.

"Not quite. I wanted to do this. They just offered to help me. I was just so tired of everyone picking on me," Van said looking down at his food while his stomach grumbled with hunger. He was definitely looking forward to a good homemade food.

"Van, you shouldn't have to change just to get people to like you. Only true friends like Irvine and Moonbay, would accept you for who you are, not what you look like," his mother said although she was impressed. Her son didn't seem quite as nervous or weak as he once did.

"I know that. But just because my looks have changed, doesn't mean that I have changed too much. It was my decision and I wanted to take it," Van said before he took a bite out of his food and savored its excellent taste.

His mother just shook her head before she looked at him. "Alright, if it is what you wanted. I had better have grandchildren soon because of it though," his mother said making everyone at the table laugh and Van blush from embarrassment. His mother was too into wanting grandchildren that she didn't care what others that of it.


	5. back to school

Van groaned and rolled over trying to ignore the annoying screech of the alarm clock at the side of his bed. He eventually couldn't take it anymore and slammed his fist down on the clock. He though he heard something crack but paid no mind to it and roll back over closing his eyes with a blissful smile on his face.

"Van! Wake up!" His father yelled pounding on the door. Even before this miraculous change, Van was always a lazy kid, just wishing that he could continue to sleep the day away. "Wake up Van! You need to get ready for school!" he continued to yell before walking away.

Van groaned rolling out of bed and ended up falling to the floor. "Damn it!" he yelled like he normally did in the morning. He stood up rubbing his head. "Ok, ok, I'm up," Van said although he knew that his father had already long since left.

'It all comes down to today. Everything that I have worked on for the last few weeks. I am going to make sure that I make this a year to remember for me. Especially with all the humiliation that Irvine has put me through,' Van thought while yawning and walking towards his closet.

Irvine said that he was surprised with how much Van had improved. He said that when he started, he didn't expect Van to do as good as he had done in just two months. Van was now a match in strength for even Irvine. Moonbay said he already had more charm than Irvine could ever have, even before the torture Van went through.

Van was curious as to how everyone was going to react to this sudden change in him. He couldn't really care though, all he wanted to know was what Fiona's reaction to it would be. She was the only one that he wanted to be noticed by.

Van grabbed the close that he set out the night before and walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower. He came out a few minutes later and quickly got dressed since he was running a bit late. He probably wouldn't even have time for breakfast.

He came running down the stairs and was glad when he saw his mother waiting with some pop tarts. This was sometimes how his morning went, although he was much slower before because he had no wish to go to school. He was eager today so that he could see how things turned out.

Tina just smiled as she watched Van rush by grab the food, give her a quick kiss on the cheek, and run out of the door as fast as he could. "Behave Van and you better have a girlfriend soon!" his mother yelled as he ran out of the door.

He missed a step and nearly fell off the steps that he was running down when his mother said this. "Mom!" Van yelled out in embarrassment while his face lit up a bright shade of red. "Give it a rest will you?" Van asked as kindly as he could. Even with his training, he didn't think it will be too easy.

"I am just looking out for what is best for you Van. You need a girlfriend, that is all that I have to say," she said causing Van to become even redder. Before she could say another word, he ran full speed away from the house. 'Great! Now I will never get grandchildren,' she thought before she walked back to her room.

Van ran and ran so that he wouldn't be embarrassed anymore by his mother. He ran at least a block before he stopped. He had managed to get his face back to its normal color but he could not understand his mother at times.

"Van!" Irvine and Moonbay yelled running up to Van as he came to a stop turning around to look at the two of them. They were both flushed as if they had been running for a long time.

"It is about time that we caught up with you. We had been running after you since you ran out of your house and even longer before then. You were fats even before we buffed you up. You still look skinny though," Moonbay said. She thought she noticed something and got right in Van's face.

Van backed up a foot or two slightly nervous at Moonbay's sudden inspection of him. "What is it Moonbay? Why exactly are you looking at me like that?" Van asked putting his hands in front of him to stop her from getting closer.

"I have been meaning to ask you something Van. Why is it that you don't wear your contacts? Don't you have trouble seeing without them?" she asked since she couldn't see the small outline of them in his eyes and she kept finding them at Van's place over the summer as they were leaving.

Van looked at Moonbay for a second before stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Never really had any need for them. My eyesight has always been perfectly fine," Van said with a shrug of his shoulder as they all turned and started to walk towards the school.

"You mean that for these past few years, you have been wearing those horrible looking glasses on you for absolutely no reason at all?" Irvine yelled in shock. He saw Van just shrug his shoulders. "Then why the hell did you wear them in the first place?" he continued to yell in astonishment.

Once again, Van just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know why I did. If anything, it was just because I felt like it. At one time, I just didn't care what people thought of how I looked," Van said with a smiled.

They walked in silence for the few blocks until they reached the school. Irvine and Moonbay were too shocked to speak but they just shrugged it off and decided to just forget about it because they knew they would never really understand Van's reasoning for some of the things that he did. His entire family had been like that ever since the three of them had known each other.

Van walked ahead of his two friends and was surprised when he didn't hear and snickering about him. He had become so used to it that it became strange not to hear it. Yet at the same time, it was also very welcoming. No one seemed to recognize him as of yet.

Van walked into the school and the only stares he received are those from people that were wondering who he was since they didn't recognize him. Van felt like laughing out loud at them. He knew that this would be the time that he could start anew in school.

Van leaned against as wall as Irvine and Moonbay came walking in shortly after him. The two were too busy chatting with one another to even bother to talk to him. They appeared to be in a rather heated debate about something that Van could not make out what they were saying over the crowd of students that were forming all around.

Van looked around at all the students who had made his life miserable for so long. They took no notice of him. He was just like them now, a normal high school student, despite what had been in his past. Van then spotted one target that he was going to have fun toying with.

Thomas came walking up to Irvine and Moonbay with a smug smirk on his face. It was obvious that he was looking for Van to pick on him. "Where is that loser that you call a friend?" he asked taking a look over at Van but it was obvious that he did not recognize Van.

Irvine turned away from his conversation with Moonbay and looked at Thomas with a scowl. He took a quick glance over at Van only to notice that he was on the verge of laughing. "He is around here somewhere. Why don't you see if you can find him for us?" Irvine asked knowing that Thomas would be on a search for hours before realizing that something was up.

Thomas was about to retort when a kid came barging into him knocking him to the side a bit. "Hey watch where you are going you idiot! You nearly knock me over!" Thomas said glaring at the spiky haired student that he had never seen before. There was something familiar about him though.

'Rats, I didn't knock him over?' Van thought a little amused. Ok, so his personality had changed drastically as well over the summer. He was just that he had more confidence in himself, but not too much to be considered overconfidence.

Van just went on knowing that Thomas would find out who he was in homeroom but he would wait until then. He walked through the halls to the homeroom that he had had since his freshman year. Dr. D was his homeroom teacher.

Dr. D was a man that always treated Van with the most respect than any of the students or the teachers in the school. He saw potential in Van and tried his hardest to bring that hidden potential out of him.

Van took a seat while the rest of the students came in at the last second looking for some open seat so that they could sit next to their friend. Irvine and Moonbay came in and took the seats next to Van; one was in front of the other.

Thomas came in and took a seat on the complete opposite side of the room. He looked around and didn't find what he was looking for. To anyone that happened to know him, it was probably Fiona since she was in the same homeroom as Van, Irvine, Moonbay, and himself.

Fiona came walking into the room with a peaceful smile on her face. Thomas beckoned her over to a seat right by him but she opted for a seat that was in the front and in the middle of the classroom.

Dr. D came into the room a few moments after that and immediately took his seat. "Alright, I am going to take attendance so just say here when I call off your name. Fiona Lynette?" Dr. D questioned.

"Here," Fiona said in her musical sounding voice. She raised her hand into the air as the male population of the class looked at her with lustful eyes. This made her feel uncomfortable and she set her hand down upon the desk.

Dr. D continued to name off names until he came to, "Van Flyheight/" he asked looking around since he too didn't seem to be able to find Van in the entire classroom. This confused him because he knew Van always came to school despite how much he hated it.

"Here," a voice in the classroom said making heads turn trying to find the source of it but they were all confused because they didn't see the long haired, big glasses geek that they had known ever since they started school.

'Where is he?' Thomas asked himself as he looked around wildly but found no sign of his geeky rival. He faintly heard Dr. D call out his name. "Oh, here," Thomas said before going back to his search. His eyes landed on Fiona and all thoughts left him as he stared at the blond haired beauty.

The bell rang shortly after Dr. D finished calling attendance. Thomas, Fiona, and Van stayed put because they had this class for their first period. Van and Fiona did get up after a while because they had to go and put some things in their lockers.

Fiona stopped by her locker and put her bag within it but a notebook dropped from her hands and slid onto the floor. She saw a hand bend down and pick it up before handing it to her. "Thank you," she said closing her locker door. She tried to walk away but the person grabbed her arm.

Van smiled at Fiona when she looked up into his dark eyes. "Um… Fiona, I was wondering if maybe I can talk to you about something?" Van asked. He was confident on the outside of talking to her but he was shaking on the inside. He was still the same old him with a small amount of confidence.

Fiona looked up and was shocked to see the most handsome face she had seen yet looking at her. She shook it off and spoke what she thought would be what he wanted to ask her. "No, I am not going to go out with you if that is what you are going to ask," Fiona said pulling her arm and was surprised when it easily came loose. It was almost as if whenever a male talked to her, it always ended up with that person asking her upon a date. She had no wish to date right then.

Van looked at her for a second before he chuckled. 'I should have known that she would get all of these types of dating requests. "Actually that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about. What I really wanted to say was that I am sorry," he said smoothly with a small smile. He couldn't help it; he was talking to the woman that he had a crush on for the longest time.

Fiona looked up at Van with a look of confusion on her face. "Sorry? What can you possibly be sorry for? I don't think that I have met you before. What have you done to apologize to me?" she asked looking into his dark eyes. It sent this strange tingle through her.

"I have. I just wanted to say sorry for how I acted towards you at the end of the year last year. I was in a bad mood and I had no right to take it out on you. That is why I wanted to say that I was sorry," Van said looking sincerely apologetic.

Fiona thought it over trying to remember what had happened at the end of last year. Then it hit her. 'I don't want any help, I don't need any help!' she remembered him saying after hitting away her hand when she tried to help him. 'That can't be right; those two don't look anything alike. If it was than that would mean that…' Fiona thought turning around only to find that the man had disappeared.

* * *

Class had started and everyone had hurried in and taken there seats as Dr. D started to go over what they were planning to do this year and of his expectation for everyone in the class.

"While you are in my class, I will show you the wonderful world of history. There is a saying that those that don't learn from the past, will end up repeating it. I can teach you all the great things and also the worst things so that your time won't repeat the failures of those in the past," Dr. D pacing back and forth in his room looking around at all the students while trying to put names with faces.

Dr. D clapped his hands together when he finished his explanation and turned towards the class. "Now, why don't we play a small game? I am going to need two volunteers," he said as only a hand immediately went into the air. "Ah yes, Miss Fiona, please come up and give me a hand," he said with a smile. "Now I need one more," Dr. D said but ignored Thomas's raised hand because he always did this whenever Fiona was helping out. He would tend to make things worse.

Dr. D looked around the room and smiled when he saw Van. His new look fooled the rest of the school but it didn't fool him in the least. "Van Flyheight, why don't you come and help me like you usually do?" Dr. D asked and saw Van shrug.

'So he is in the class, now I will be able to get at him,' Thomas thought looking around but didn't see Van. He then saw a guy stand up and walk down the aisle. His, as well as everyone else's, mouth dropped at the sight of Van. 'That isn't Van!' Thomas thought trying to make some comparison but they two just seemed so different.

"Hey," Van said giving a small wave as he approached Dr. D. He looked behind him at the rest of the class, all of whose jaws were dropped. 'Just the reaction I was looking for,' he thought with a smile as he turned towards Dr. D.

'So I was right. He looks so different from the scrawny kid that always got beat up last year. I wonder what happened to him,' she thought as she stared at Van. Although they had never really talked, Fiona admired his strength for being able to put up with all that everyone did to him over the years.

Van looked over and saw that Fiona was staring at him intently just like everyone else; he blushed a bit and turned to face Dr. D. 'I wonder what she thinks of this. I mainly did this for her, even if she doesn't know that,' Van thought as he paid attention to Dr. D's explanation of the game.


	6. pizza

Van walked slowly out of the classroom at the end of the class. He let off a sigh as he leaned against some lockers. He felt so strange not getting all the insults but it was a good strange. He liked it more than he thought that he would.

"Flyheight!" Thomas yelled out causing Van to push himself off of the lockers and looked Thomas straight in the eyes. "Just what the hell do you think you are going to get out of this change? Putting on new clothes and getting a haircut doesn't change the fact that you are a geek. Always were, and always will be!" Thomas yelled because he saw how everyone in the class was actually impressed by what has happened to Van.

"What exactly does that say about you Thomas? No one has any respect for you. You hang out with your brothers friends and use his reputation to get what you want. I guess the saying can also go for you," Van said with a small chuckle as he tried to walk by Thomas.

"Hold it right there!" Thomas yelled grabbing Van by the shirt and pushing him against the locker. He became furious when he saw Van had this look on his face as if he didn't care what Thomas was doing to him. "You need to learn a little respect you poor maggot!" Thomas yelled into Van's face.

'Poor? Oh yeah, I didn't want any of them to know that I am rich,' Van thought with a little amusement in his eyes. "You should give respect to others before you can gain any for yourself," Van said grabbing a hold of Thomas's arm and twisting it behind Thomas's back without giving Thomas any time to react.

Thomas winced in pain as he struggled to get loose from Van's hold over him. 'When the hell did he become so strong? Just last year I was throwing him in trashcans,' Thomas thought wincing again in pain before Van suddenly released him causing him to fall onto the floor.

Van just walked by as Thomas stood up holding his arm. "Get rid of your high and mighty attitude. You have no true friends around here and you know it," Van said before walking away without looking back once.

"What the hell does he know?" Thomas growled out before walking away in the opposite direction of Van. "Everyone knows he has a crush on Fiona, but I will be the one to claim her heart. He has nothing against me," Thomas said angrily.

* * *

Irvine and Moonbay were laughing their heads off when they learned of what Thomas tried to do. "See why I put you through all that Van? It was to take care of yourself against people like that," Irvine said pounding his fist against lockers while he was laughing.

Moonbay looked to the side of her and spotted something that made her smile. "Hey Van, do you want to attempt to make friends with Fiona. That is all you can do now because she won't go out with you even if you asked," Moonbay said turning back to her friends since she had spotted Fiona standing not too far away.

"Sure, just having someone like her around is enough for me," Van said with a slight blush. He wondered why she wouldn't go out with him even if he asked but he put it aside. "What do you want me to do?" Van asked as Moonbay walked up and whispered something into his ear. He merely nodded to what they said and was pushed in the direction of Fiona.

Van stumbled forward, suddenly feeling nervous again. He talked to her earlier but he was shaking inside the entire time. He walked up behind her and lightly tapped her upon the shoulder. He lightly blushed when she turned around looking at him with her beautiful crimson eyes.

"Yes? What is it Van?" Fiona asked kindly putting a small smile on her face. She saw that he looked nervous about something and was really hoping that he wouldn't try and ask her out. She just wasn't interested in anyone and did not want to go on a date with anyone.

"Um… well… you see. After school, Irvine, Moonbay, and I are heading over to grab a bite to eat and the three of us were wondering if maybe you would want to come along," Van said nervously as he remembered all that Moonbay had told him to ask Fiona about.

Fiona looked over at Irvine and Moonbay seeing them look away quickly. "If Moonbay and Irvine will be there, then I guess I could go," Fiona said since Irvine and Moonbay were two of her best friends. She would do anything with the two of them.

"Great!" Van said happily as he let out the breath that he was unaware that he had been holding. "They said to just meet them at the normal place," Van said before waving and heading back towards Irvine and Moonbay.

Fiona didn't even have to wonder why Irvine and Moonbay didn't ask her themselves since they were close by. She knew they were up to something and she didn't really feel like knowing what it was exactly.

Van ran up to Irvine and Moonbay but stopped to turn around and look at Fiona. She had her back turned to him and was walking away. He suddenly found himself in one of Irvine's headlocks and struggled to get free. "Let me go?" Van yelled swinging here and there to try and throw Irvine off balance and make him let go.

"So how did it go Van?" Irvine asked not even losing the least bit of balance because of Van's swinging. "Did she say that she would come?" Irvine asked with a smirk on his face ignoring the struggling of Van.

"Let me go Irvine, I swear I am going to kill you if I ever get out of this!" Van yelled before he was suddenly released from the hold, courtesy of Moonbay. "Thank you Moonbay, now time for me to keep my promise!" Van yelled lunging at Irvine only to be tripped by Moonbay. "Damn it!" Van yelled rubbing his head since it hit the floor.

"Did you ask her or not Van?" Moonbay asked a little annoyed at the immaturity of her two friends. She saw Van just nod his head not getting off of the floor. "Did she say that she would come?" Moonbay asked and received another nod. She removed her foot from his back allowing him to stand again. "Good!" she said happily clapping her hands in front of her.

"Tell me again why it is that you wanted me to ask her instead of one of you two?" Van asked brushing off the front of his shirt. "And if you are trying to help me, then why are you coming along?" Van asked a little annoyed.

"For the first question, it is because I felt like it. For the second question, she won't go anywhere with you right now unless she has friends with her. How should I put this lightly? Basically, she has trust issues," Moonbay said with a shrug of her shoulders. She did not really want to get into the issue of why Fiona was like that.

"I see," Van said in thought. He didn't ask what it was about because he somehow knew that he wouldn't get any answers to it. Moonbay didn't look like she wanted to talk about it either. So he just dropped the subject.

* * *

After school, Van walked into a small restaurant that was at least two blocks away from the school. He was used to it because this was where he had eaten most of the summer when he was still training under Irvine. He liked the food here and was glad to come back to it.

There were few people there since most were at work or heading home from school. Van had pretty much ran here so the usual rush of people after school had yet to reach the place. It made the place seem calm and peaceful, just the way that Van liked it. He hated to be in places that were terribly noisy.

Neither Irvine, Moonbay, or Fiona were there yet so Van was able to take first dibs on the seats. He took a seat next to a window because he liked to look out it at the beautiful afternoon sky.

Van wasn't there for very long when Irvine and Moonbay came walking through the door with Fiona trailing a few steps behind them. She was silent compared to how Irvine and Moonbay were talking animatedly to each other.

Irvine and Moonbay noticed Van and walked over to him with smiles. They sat down on the end seats at the table, leaving the only open one right in front of Van. He gulped slightly when he saw Fiona take a seat in the seat. She didn't even look at him but instead just looked out the window like he had done a few minutes before.

"So you guys finally decided to show up. I was beginning to think that you were going to ditch me and leave me here by myself," Van said in a joking tone that made Irvine and Moonbay laugh. He was disappointed when Fiona didn't laugh at his joke but he didn't say anything about it.

"Yeah well Moonbay seemed to be taking her time so it took us longer than I thought it would to get here," Irvine said with a smirk while pointing towards Moonbay. A moment later he was sporting a large bump on his head courtesy of Moonbay. "I was just joking," he said rubbing his head.

"Yeah well it wasn't very funny," Moonbay said cracking her knuckles but decided against it and put his fist down. "I'm hungry, what shall we eat?" Moonbay asked completely changing her attitude from before.

"I have already ordered a pizza but I will get something else as well if any of you want that," Van said but everyone just shook their heads. "I did it when I first got here so it shouldn't be much longer," Van said leaning back and taking a quick look at Fiona who was just doing her homework.

Moonbay looked towards Fiona as well and groaned before pulling the book Fiona was going over. "Fiona, Fiona, Fiona, we are not here to do our homework. We are here to eat and hang out. Loosen up a bit," she said holding the book out of Fiona's reach so she couldn't snatch it back.

"Come on Moonbay, give it back," Fiona said trying to get it back but she couldn't reach and eventually gave up and went back to looking out the window. "Fine, I won't do my homework now," Fiona said a bit angrily.

Van stood up and walked towards the counter. "I am going to see what is taking them with the pizza. They are usually faster than this," he told them before he walked away without another word. All eyes followed him in the process.

Irvine stood up as well and walked towards the counter. "I just remembered there was something else that I wanted get," he said walking up to the counter and talking to the person that was there.

When the two of them were out of hearing range, Moonbay let a smirk cross her face. She turned to Fiona who seemed to cower a bit at the face. "So, Fiona, like anything that you saw?" she asked with a playful tone to her voice. She growled when Fiona just looked away.

Fiona turned and stared out the window. "No. Why? Should I have?" Fiona asked in a solemn voice that reflected the look that was on her face. "I know what you are up to Moonbay and you should know that it won't work. I am not going to get involved with anyone again," she said sadly as she laid her head down upon the table.

Moonbay just sighed at her friend's attitude. "Fiona, it has been over two years. Aren't you over it yet?" Moonbay asked but Fiona just shook her head wildly. "I did warn you. You should have listened; it would have saved you a lot of trouble. But don't start blaming other people for that," Moonbay said rather roughly but it had no effect on Fiona.

Fiona didn't even flinch at the tone in Moonbay's voice. "I know that Moonbay and I know you are trying to help but I refuse to go through it again," Fiona said trying her best not to just stand up and run off.

"It doesn't mean that it will happen again. Van is a good person Fiona, give him a chance. Maybe you will be surprised with things that you will find out," she said but shut up when Van and Irvine returned to the table. Van was with the pizza, and Irvine had a giant thing of bread sticks.

"I knew that you would end up forgetting these," Irvine said grabbing on as everyone else grabbed one. "So, what have the two of you been talking about while we were gone?" Irvine asked to two young ladies sitting across from him.

Moonbay looked to Fiona before turning back to Irvine. "Nothing of importance. Now let me at that pizza," she said grabbing a piece that was already in Van's hands. "Thanks Van," she said after he gave her an annoyed look that she grabbed the piece that he wanted right out of his hands.

"Some friend," both Van and Fiona muttered at the same both highly aggravated at Moonbay. Van for the piece of pizza, and Fiona for the pestering that Moonbay had just been giving her.

Both Irvine and Moonbay couldn't help but laugh slightly at how much their two friends were alike. 'Looks like this is going to get interesting,' Moonbay thought before taking a bite out of the piece of pizza with a broad smile upon her face.

* * *

They stayed there for hours. The problem that Van had with it was that Fiona acted like he wasn't even there the entire time. She would talk, but only to Irvine and Moonbay. He didn't think that she even looked at him once the entire time that they were there.

Feeling as if he didn't belong with them, Van stood up without any of them noticing and walked out of the restaurant. They knew the owner, so he allowed them to stay there a lot longer than they let any of their other customers.

He stood outside in the warm night and stared up into the cloudless sky at the stars that were shining brightly from above him. A warm breeze blew past his place. It helped him to relax a little.

'They were trying to do something for me but they seemed to totally forget about me as the time went on. Maybe for the better, Fiona didn't even seem interested in talking to me. If she can't do that, then I don't want to try and get her into something that she obviously doesn't want to be in,' he thought with a depressed sigh.

Van heard the doors to the restaurant open and saw Irvine and Moonbay walking away without Fiona. 'Where is she?' Van asked himself only to suddenly see Fiona walking in his direction with her head towards the ground. He wondered why she was walking by herself.

Van saw her just walk by him. "Fiona?" he asked making her stop and look at him. "Why are you walking by yourself? It is dangerous with the type of freaks that are out," Van said in a quiet tone but he was sure that Fiona had heard.

Fiona just gave a small half-hearted smile towards him. "I'll be fine. I don't live that far from here. It is within walking distance," she said before turning around and she started to continue to walk in her original direction.

Van knew Fiona didn't want to get into relationships but he wanted to see if he could at least become friends with her. He quickly walked towards her until he was by her side. "Mind if I walk you?" he asked quietly and a little nervously.

Fiona looked over at Van with a confused look on her face but it disappeared quickly. "It's ok, you don't have to. It is just a block or two from here," she said turning her head back in front of her. She was trying to avoid looking at him.

"It's ok. I live this way anyways. Plus it will make me feel a lot better if I were to make sure that you got to your place safely. It would plague my conscience if something was to happen to you when I could have avoided it," Van said in a light-hearted tone while putting a smile upon his face.

Fiona just sighed. She was tired, so she didn't feel like arguing. "I guess," she said pushing her backpack into a more comfortable position upon her back. She took a quick look over at Van before looking back just as quickly.

'Try and start a conversation Van. Wait, what is there to talk about? I am afraid whatever I do will either be too stupid or end up boring her,' Van thought nervously. He may have had a bit more confidence, but there would always be those insecurities that he has had for the longest of times.

The silence was broken but it was by Fiona rather than Van. "You're different Van. Very different from what you were like last year. Why go through such a drastic change?" she asked although she had a feeling that it was Irvine and Moonbay who had put him through it. It seemed to have their names written all over it.

Van thought it over wondering if he should tell her the truth or not. He didn't want to scare her away when he was finally having an actual conversation with the woman he had had a crush on few the last few years. "I felt like it was time for a change. I was tired of all the torment people put me through because of what I was like. Although my looks have changed, I am still the same person on the inside," he said with a small blush although it wasn't visible because of the darkness.

"Some won't stop what they used to do because of a small change. You should try to earn their respect by being you rather than gain it because of this change you have gone through," she said in a wise tone.

"My mother said basically the exact same thing. I could actually care less what others thought of me now. Although it was kind of fun to watch their reaction when they first saw me," Van said with a laugh and was amazed when he heard Fiona laugh as well. It made him feel good to know that he managed to do that.

"I guess that those were kind of amusing to watch. Is that why you did it though, to get back at those that hurt you? That isn't exactly a very good reason," Fiona was kind of surprised at the ease she was having at talking to Van.

Van just sighed and looked up at the stars again. "That isn't the reason. I have my own reasons. Irvine and Moonbay were willing to help me though. It wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have friends like that. Even if they do tend to piss me off," Van said with a smile while looking towards Fiona.

"The two of them can be good friends if you get past their quirks," she said before suddenly coming to a stop. She saw Van turn around to look at her. "This is my place," she said pointing towards a house to the left of her.

"Oh, seems like a nice place," Van said looking at the large house. There didn't appear to be anyone there because there were no lights on in the house. "You live here with your family?" he asked wanting to just keep talking to her.

"Sort of," Fiona said and was glad that Van didn't continue on with the subject. "I had better get going. It was nice talking to you Van," she said before walking up the driveway and into the house. It was easy to talk to him but at the same time there was also too much tension between them.

Van just sighed before he walked away. 'It was good to talk to her but it will probably be a one time thing. At least it was nice until it ended,' he thought continuing to walk in the direction of his home.


	7. talk

"You idiot! You had the perfect opportunity to start something with Fiona, a friendship at least, and yet you still blew it?" Moonbay yelled in anger at Van the first chance that she got after hearing of what happened transpired between the two of them in their little walk.

Van had barely walked through the doors of his home that night after walking Fiona home when he was confronted by his two eager looking friends. They wanted to know what had transpired and weren't too pleased when he heard that he didn't have much success.

"Don't blame me! I didn't want to put her in a situation that she obviously didn't want to be in. What is the point of it if she can't seem to trust me?" Van asked trying to defend himself. "I tried but had no success. It is as simple as that," he said walking towards the stairs.

"Van, Van, Van. You need to actually try harder than you did then. It would be good for you and Fiona to be together. We see it as a perfect pairing for the two of you. You just need to be more aggressive about it," Irvine said grabbing Van by the shoulder and steering him towards a couch.

"Irvine, I know this is what I've been training to do all summer but I don't want to do this is Fiona is unwilling. I am not just going to force her into a friendship she doesn't want. I am going to take my time with it and try to work for it. Wait until Fiona actually wants it," Van said standing up and walked to his room without another word said.

Moonbay couldn't help but smirking. "Looks like he's learning," she said and Irvine nodded in agreement. "Most push so she pushes them away. Van takes his time and she may try and open up," she said before they walked out of the house.

* * *

Thomas's patience was ticking away little by little each moment. He thought things were going great for him and that soon he would have Fiona but things suddenly changed too quickly. Van had changed and wasn't the weakling he was the year before and he obviously was going after Fiona.

Thomas's eye twitched when he noticed Van take a quick look in Fiona's direction before looking away. The only thing that he had to be glad about was that Fiona didn't appear to be returning any of his looks. 'I have to do something or else he will start trying,' Thomas thought angrily before the bell rang and he rushed out of the question shortly after Fiona.

He walked in the direction of Fiona's locker and was glad when he saw that she was already there. He put on a proud smile and walked in her direction, and stopped right by her. "Excuse me, Fiona," Thomas said quietly.

Fiona took a quick look in Thomas's direction and then looked away. She knew what was coming. "What is it Thomas? I am in a bit of a hurry," Fiona said grabbing some of her books and started walking away quickly.

Thomas ran to catch up to her and put a hand on her shoulder to make her stop. He was suddenly starting to feel a little bit nervous. "I was just wondering if maybe you would like to go see a movie or something this weekend," Thomas said in a hopeful tone. He had a good feeling about that day. Then that good feeling came crashing down.

"I am sorry but no Thomas. I have to go," she said pulling her shoulder out of his hand and continued to walk. Much to her annoyance, Thomas did it again. "Will you please let go Thomas? I have to get to class," Fiona said struggling to get out of his hold.

"Why can't you go out with me Fiona? You aren't going out with anyone else are you?" he asked in a slight panic and was glad when Fiona shook her head. "Then why is it that you won't go out with me?" he practically begged her. He was not going to take no for an answer.

"Let me go!" she practically yelled struggling a little and ended up dropping her stuff. She suddenly felt the weight listed off her shoulder and turned to see that Van had pulled Thomas away by the back of the collar of his shirt. The situation before her was rather funny with Thomas trying to escape but failing, just the position she was in before.

Van let go of Thomas and he fell to the ground with a thud. He turned to look at Fiona picking up the things that she had dropped. He found one of her books at his feet and picked it up handing it to her. "Are you ok?" he asked as she gratefully took the book from him.

"Yes, thank you. I was just in a hurry and he wouldn't let me go," she said not even looking at Van but at the floor. There was something about the new Van that was bugging her. It was certain things that she didn't want to feel. Perhaps it was the fact that he was one of the few who was kind and never pushed for something out of her. It was the exact opposite of Thomas.

"Well if you are in a hurry then I had better not keep you," Van said and bowed his head slightly before she walked away. He walked in the opposite direction that Fiona was going. He saw Thomas get up rubbing his neck.

"That had nothing to do with you Van. Why did you have to butt in when I was about to get a date out of her?" Thomas growled out getting right into Van face and was pissed when Van gave an I-don't-care look.

"You weren't going to get anything out of her Thomas. She didn't want to be there and you should try to force her when she was obviously not interested," Van said highly pissed at Thomas's attitude. He knew absolutely nothing of women and what they actually wanted. Heck, Van was still confused about what they wanted.

"Yes she was. I am sure that she was about to accept when you interrupted. Oh wait, I see. You were jealous that she was going to accept and decided to interrupt. You and your stupid crush on her. Do actually think that she will ever accept a loser like you?" Thomas said glaring at Van.

Van just sighed and walked away. "You know absolutely nothing about her. Neither do I. You should know when she isn't interested and just back off though. She wanted to leave and you wouldn't let her," Van said before walking away without looking back.

'Yeah, he is definitely jealous of mine and Fiona's relationship,' with a grin as he looked into his own imaginary world where him and Fiona were happily together and Van was utterly alone for the rest of his life. 'Just like it will be,' he thought before walking to his class.

* * *

Third bell history with the old man came around and Van walked into the room to see Fiona already there and Thomas in the back staring at her with lustful eyes. He had to say that he felt sorry for Fiona with having idiots like him after her all the time. 'I am not one to talk, I am trying to get her as well,' Van thought sadly as he took his normal seat by Irvine and Moonbay.

Everyone in the room was quiet for a few moments before Dr. D walked into the room with a smile on his face. "Good morning everyone. I know school only started yesterday but I have a bit of a project for all of you," he said and heard the class groan while he smiled on.

'I wonder what this project will be. Dr. D doesn't do anything too difficult on the first day. Then again, he isn't exactly the type of person that people can predict what he is going to do,' Van thought watching on for some sort of explanation. He was actually curious about what the project was unlike the rest of the class.

"You will be working in pairs for the project," Dr. D said and no sooner had he said that than Thomas's hand shot up into the air waving around frantically. "Which I have already chosen," he continued to say and Thomas's hand went down downheartedly. "One man and one woman will be working together to research one historical figure and create a presentation for it which will be presented in class in two weeks," he explained excitedly.

The eyes of almost every male in the class went towards Fiona wondering who would be the lucky person to be her partner. Fiona didn't look all that excited about it though and Van couldn't blame her. She was probably going to be stuck with someone who only wanted to go out with her. He had to admit that he was hopeful that he could be paired up with her.

"The partners are as followed. Irvine and Moonbay," he said and no one was surprised by that, the two always did everything together. "Crystal and Jack, Thomas and Fiona," he said and he heard Thomas cheering. "Oops, my mistake, Thomas and Julie," he said and heard Thomas groan. "Van and Fiona," he said and all eyes went towards Van as he shrunk back a bit.

Van couldn't believe that he would be partners with Fiona. He was thanking his luck then. He took a look over at Fiona and just saw her paying attention without a look of happiness or sadness. He was upset because she wasn't happy about it but was happy that she didn't hate the thought.

"Now please get into your groups and start to discuss what you are going to do," Dr. D said as people got up and walked to their partners. Dr. D noticed that Thomas walked up to him instead. "Is there something the matter Mr. Shubaltz?" he asked when Thomas came to a stop.

"Um… I think that there has been a mistake sir. I am supposed to be with Fiona but you put her with Van instead," he said putting on an innocent face to hide the fury that he was feeling on the inside. "How dare he give MY woman to him,' Thomas thought angrily.

"I am afraid that there is no mistake Thomas. I pulled the names at random and this is just how they turned out. Now please go back to your partner and get to work," Dr. D ordered and watched as Thomas reluctantly went back to his seat. "I should remind you all that this isn't just an in-class project and that you will need to meet up with you partners outside of it to finish it. We won't be working on it every class bell. Just remember that I will know if you worked together or not," he said to the class.

'What! Now he gets to meet up with her outside of class like on a date!' Thomas mentally yelled as his jaw dropped nearly to the floor. He angrily walked towards his partner and watched as Van did the same.

Van slowly walked towards Fiona and stopped when he was next to her desk. "Is it ok if I sit down Fiona?" he asked not really sure why he did it in the first place. He had to so they could work on the project like Dr. D told them to.

Fiona looked up at Van and then down at the history book that she was looking through. "Go ahead. We have to get started on this anyways," she said quietly as if entranced by the book that she was reading.

Van was disheartened to know that she still didn't want to talk to him even though they were partners for the project. "Oh, ok then," he said quietly as he sat down in the seat next to her which earned him glares from the rest of the men in the class. "So… do you have any ideas on what we can do this project about?" he asked her trying to get her to talk.

Fiona shook her head remaining quiet. She realized that she was really looking rude to the people around her. "No, what about you? Do you have any ideas?" she asked finally looking at him with his head on the desk staring out the window.

Van's head shot up when he heard her talking to him. "Um… no, not really. That was kind of why I was asking you," he said scratching the back of his head nervously. "How about we go to the library after school and do research to find out what we are going to do?" Van asked with a slight blush which no one could see easily.

Fiona looked down at the books again after he asked that. She knew he didn't mean it like Thomas was but she still felt uneasy. "Um… sorry but I can't today. I have things that I need to get done," she said quietly.

"Ok. Is there any time that you can come? We really need to get to work on it and I would rather have your opinion on what to do," Van said but was stopped when the bell rang. 'I wasn't even aware that we have been in the class for that long,' he thought a bit annoyed.

Fiona stood up and started to walk towards the door but stopped and turned towards Van. "We will talk about what we are going to do tomorrow," she said in a monotonous voice before she walked away without looking back.

* * *

School was completely boring after that. Except for a small argument with Thomas about the project pairings, nothing had happened to Van. It was strange for him because he was used to something always happening to him such as being picked on but he hadn't been picked on at all since he came back.

He couldn't help but wonder in all of his free time what it was that made Fiona keep her distance from everyone that tried to talk to her. He was just trying to be friendly and she still didn't pay much attention.

He had asked Moonbay about it because it got on his nerves too much but she managed to make a quick excuse and ran off without telling him anything. It was the exact same thing for Irvine. Van always hated it when he was left out on some sort of secret.

He could clearly remember what it was that made him jump in as soon as he saw Thomas asking Fiona out. Fiona looked really panicked when Thomas wouldn't let her go and he just couldn't take that look in her eyes. He just had the sudden instinct to help her.

'Don't let it get to you,' he remembered Irvine saying before he ran off earlier that day. 'If she wishes to talk to you then she will. You just have to be patient until that time comes,' Irvine had continued to say to a rather disheartened Van.

Van knew that he was right. He knew that if he pushed for something that he would be no better than Thomas and all the other people in his school. He wanted Fiona, he would admit that. But he was not going to force her like other had tried to do. It would be unfair to her if he did.

He walked down the street with no clear path ahead of him. He didn't feel like going home right then. He wanted to know the point of all he went through. Why the two of them were so insistent on helping him.

'What is the point on training me for one thing like that if they knew that it could possibly fail? What are they really up to? What is their reason?' these question were continuously going through his head all day since Fiona continued to refuse to talk to him.

Van walked by a park and walked into it since it was the quickest way to his home. He happened to catch a glimpse of something and took a closer look and saw Fiona sitting on a swing set with the saddest look on her face that Van had ever seen.

His steps were cautious so as to not startle her in such a state. "Fiona? Are you ok?" he asked and saw her jump in surprise. 'So much for not startling her,' he thought shaking his head. "Sorry to startle you, I was just passing by and noticed how sad you looked. I just wanted to make sure that you were ok," he spoke softly and at a distance.

Fiona quickly wiped away her tears and shook her head. "I'm fine," she lied looking off to the side as she swung back and forth lightly. "What are you doing here?" she asked quietly because she was usually alone in the park.

"This happens to be the fastest way to get to my house from the school, so don't take it as stalking you. You don't look too good. Is there something on your mind. If you want to talk than I am willing to listen. It isn't good to keep things to yourself. It is better to talk about it. That is basically what I have learned," he said softly as he took a seat on another swing a few seats away.

Fiona looked at Van with pain filled eyes yet they also looked kind of thankful. She took a deep breath before she spoke. "Van, what is it that you see when you look at me?" she asked turning her gaze towards the ground.

Van was shocked by the question and thought of what he could say that wouldn't sound too stupid. "Well, from what I can see, you are just like any other young woman. You have your obvious secrets. You are very beautiful, which is probably what most people look at when they see you. I see that you have this great personality if you were to open up to people. Why do you ask such a thing?" Van asked looking at her slightly reddened face.

Fiona couldn't help but blush at what Van had said about her. "I just wanted to know why it is that everyone seems to be after me. Are you like that Van? Are you like the rest of the people at our school?" she asked quietly.

Van knew he just couldn't lie to her. "In ways you can say that I am, and in other ways you can say that I'm not. That is really up to you to decide such a thing. I think they are all assholes though, except Irvine and Moonbay. Those two are just pains," he said chuckling to himself.

"Yeah they are but they are the best of friends for me. They are all I have really have had in my life," she said and noticed the questioning glance that Van was giving her. She had no idea why she was telling him some of this. She barely knew him. "I have pretty much grown up alone. My parents are always away on business and it is rare to see them home for more than a day or two before they leave," she said sadly.

"So that is why you said sort of when I asked if you lived with your parents?" he asked and she just nodded her head. "I guess that I don't know what you are going through because my parents have always been there. Although there are times that I do feel as alone as you do. I always hated being alone," Van said staring up into the bright blue afternoon sky.

Fiona glanced at Van and put on a small smile. "Moonbay and Irvine were right, you are a nice guy. Don't get any ideas though. I am not interested in any sort of relation even if you are a nice person," she said softly and was surprised when he smiled back.

"I won't. From what I have seen and heard, there is so much about you that me nor anyone else know about. If you wanted something like a relationship, then you would have one yourself. It isn't fair for other to try and force you into one," he said with a smile.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "I am sorry about earlier. I guess I took what you were saying a little wrong and panicked a bit," she said but he just waved it off. She was about to say more when the two of them heard some rustling in some bushes.

The two looked at each other and then at the bushes. They stood up and walked towards it pushing some branches apart. The next thing they knew, Irvine and Moonbay fell out of the bushes looking up at the two of them with guilty looks on their faces.

"Irvine, Moonbay. What are the two of you doing spying from the bushes?" Fiona and Van pretty much growled out at the same time. They looked down at the two of them as they shrunk back a bit.

"He, he," Moonbay chuckled nervously. We saw the two of you and were waiting for you to finish since we didn't want to interrupt?" she said nervously under the intense glares of the two teens. "Ok! We were interested in what you were talking about!" she said crossing her arms in front of her.

Van sighed shaking his head as he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I swear, the two of you are hopeless," he said leaning against a pole of the swing set. "Not to mention you two think too much alike for my tastes," he muttered.

"You two sure seemed to be getting into the discussion," Moonbay said looking between the two of them. "So… are you friends yet?" she asked hoping that the talk might of eased things enough between them and allowed Fiona to let him in. even if they were, Moonbay knew Van was right. There was still a lot that he didn't know about Fiona. That would take more between them for her to spill it.

Fiona looked towards Van for a second as if thinking about it. "Maybe," she said softly before she lifted up her backpack. "I had better go. I have a lot of homework to do," she said giving them a smile before she walked away.


	8. I want to know the truth

Van had no idea what he was going to do. Irvine and Moonbay had a lot of expectations for him and Fiona but he didn't think that he could continue doing this when Fiona wanted nothing in the form of a relationship. It plagued his mind ever since their meeting earlier in that day.

'What is it that she is so afraid of that causes her not to want a relationship though. It isn't what she talked about. I am sure of that. Something must have happened before. I wonder what it is though,' he thought as he stared up at his ceiling while lying on his bed.

The door to Van's room burst open the next second causing Van to end up falling off of his bed. He rubbed his head and got up to see Irvine standing there with a smirk on his face. "Will you please knock next time? What if I was naked?" Van asked and laughed at the horrified look on Irvine's face.

"You're right, I had better knock next time," he thought shaking unpleasant images out of his head. "Congratulations Van. I think you might of actually of gotten to Fiona today," he said patting Van on the back.

Van rolled his eyes and laid back down onto his bed. "I can't do this anymore Irvine," he said surprising Irvine. "I know you are trying to help but Fiona is obviously afraid of relationships. Why should I put her through that then?" Van asked with a look of deep concentration.

"That is why we are trying to do this Van. It is because she is afraid of relationships. We aren't trying to hurt her though. We are doing this to help her. We just knew you were the perfect person to do that," he said with a smile.

Van stared at Irvine. He felt that he would never be able to figure out Irvine's logic. He says he doesn't want to hurt Fiona but he is putting her through something she doesn't want to go through. "Why is she afraid of relationships?" Van asked knowing that Irvine knew the truth.

"So what's for dinner Van?" Irvine asked pretending that he didn't hear what Van had just asked him. He heard what he said but he would not talk about it. It was something he would have to get from Fiona if Fiona actually fully accepted Van as someone close enough to her.

Van gave Irvine a deadpan look. "And who told you that you were eating with us?" he asked in a monotonous voice. "You can't just invite yourself you know," he said a little annoyed that he just invited himself.

Irvine just smirked wider. "Your mom said I could when I got into the house. So what's for dinner?" he asked as Van glared at him but it lost its affect when he heard Van's stomach growl and her laughed out loud. "I'm hungry and it looks like you are to," he said before leaving the room.

* * *

"Alright class. I want you all to get into your groups and discuss your project a little," Dr. D announced the next day in class. He then turned around and sat back behind his desk where he was trying to finish some work that needed to be done.

Van got up from his seat and walked towards Fiona's desk when he saw that she wasn't planning on moving. He was about to sit down when Thomas shoved him out of the way and took the seat instead. "Go to your own partner Thomas. We have work to do," Van growled out highly annoyed.

Thomas either didn't hear or just ignored Van. Most thought it was the ladder of the two. "So what should we do for the project Fiona?" Thomas asked trying to become her partner instead of Van.

Fiona looked at Thomas like he was crazy. "Um… I'm not your partner, Julie is," Fiona said pointing towards a short red headed woman sitting on the opposite side of the room. She saw that Thomas wasn't going to leave.

"Thomas, quit fooling around and move. Some of us are actually trying to do some work and you are just getting in the way," Van said but it proved useless since Thomas didn't seem to have any intentions of moving from the seat.

Thomas looked at Van with a deadpanned look. "Who asked you Flyheight? Fiona is my partner, Dr. D made a mistake yesterday. I am sure of that. Now just run along and leave us alone," Thomas said turning back towards Fiona who was staring out the window.

"Mr. Shubaltz, I assigned you to Miss Kale not Miss Lynette. Now take your actual partners or I will be forced to give you detention for disrupting the class," Dr. D said getting up from his desk and walked over to the group of three. Everyone's attention was on them now but Dr. D didn't seem bothered by it.

Thomas grumbled as he got up from the seat and stormed to the other end of the room where he stared in the direction of Van and Fiona. 'Why didn't I get paired with her?' he thought angrily ignoring his partner as she tried talking about the project.

The level of tension that was between the two the day before didn't seem to be there anymore. It was like they had become friends with each other in a really short time and that there wasn't any need to be uneasy with each other.

Fiona actually found it refreshing that Van didn't try to force her with any ideas. She had this feeling that he was like the others in wanting her but she was glad that he didn't try anything. He was almost a perfect gentleman around her unlike others who didn't know the meaning of the word.

She took a good look at Van. He was completely different from what he was like the year before. Compared to then when he was shy, quiet, and a bit weak, now he was strong, confident, and easier to talk to. She wondered if she would ever be able to make a change like that or if she would always be the same person she is now.

Van noticed Fiona staring at him and felt his face heat up a bit. He didn't think that what he did the day before was anything big but she seemed to be a lot livelier to him. She actually gave him a look like she was listening. "I-is something wrong Fiona?" he asked her nervously.

Fiona looked away quickly when she noticed that he caught her staring. "N-no, everything is fine," she said nervously. 'What is wrong with me, one talk with him and I am already feeling strange feelings around him,' she thought shaking her head to get rid of any thoughts she was having.

"So, uh… what do you think we should do this project about?" Van asked scratching his head as he tried to think of something. He may be the top of their class but even he needed help with things right then and being near Fiona was really making it hard for him to think.

Fiona snapped out of a small stupor that she didn't even realize she was in until she heard Van talk. "Oh um… I don't know," she said with a laugh. "We should just talk about it and see what we come up with," she said shrugging her shoulders.

"This could take a while," Van muttered to himself. He then had an idea. "Why don't we go with what I thought of yesterday? We can meet in the library or somewhere else if you want and do research. We need more facts before we make a decision," Van said as he leaned back in his seat.

Fiona thought it over. "I guess that could work," she said quietly as if still in thought. 'Maybe you can also do a little research on him. Try and find out a little bit about him,' her brain taunted her and she had to admit that maybe it would be a good idea. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her then but she figured that it couldn't hurt to get to know him. Irvine and Moonbay probably wouldn't leave her alone if she didn't.

"Cool!" Van said glad that she agreed with him. He was starting to see what Irvine meant the night before. She was like him. She tended to retreat into herself a lot of the time. If she was around people nice, then she started to open up more to people. He was kind of hoping that she would really start to open up to him someday.

* * *

Fiona sat at a table with a book before her as she skimmed through it. She was taken from her thoughts as a small pile of books was dropped onto the table courtesy of Van. She was shocked for a second before she just went back to the books. "I don't think we will need that many books," she said looking up again at the stack.

"I know, but it never hurts to have more than needed. Better to have more than less. Besides, no books have the exact same contents in them. We may have chosen the topic but now we have to research," he said grabbing the top book and looking through the table of contents.

The stack of books seemed to be getting smaller as the time passed. Neither seemed to complain about the time it was taking to do this. They were there for about an hour finishing a lot of books before they were interrupted.

"Fiona, why are you in here doing this boring stuff with him when you can be with me someplace fun? Why don't you just go out with me and ditch this loser?" Thomas asked with a face that said he was trying to be seductive and yet failing miserably.

"Thomas, go away. You are being annoying again. Unlike you, we are actually working to get a good grade. Just because you have no problems with failing doesn't mean that we want to fail," Van said snapping a book shut in annoyance.

"Shut up Flyheight!" Thomas yelled making the rest of the library angry. He shut up then. "You are just saying that because you want to be alone with Fiona!" he said in a hushed yell. "You are just like everyone else Van!" Thomas said before he was hit smack dab in the middle of the face with a book.

Van got up from the table and stormed to the aisles of books since he finished his research with the other books. "Stupid asshole," he grumbled before dodging the same book he threw at Thomas. He didn't even look to see it coming. Thomas was too easy to predict so he knew it was coming.

"Thomas, for the last time I am not going to go out with you! I have told you that a hundred times so will you please get it through your mind and just drop the subject!" Fiona said in a frustrated tone of voice.

"Why won't you Fiona? You don't seem to have any problems going out with Van!" Thomas yelled pointing in the direction that Van had stormed off to. "Come on, I will prove to you that we are meant to be together," Thomas practically begged.

"For one thing, Van and I are not on a date. We are doing research for our project, which is what you should be doing. For another, No means no. Get it through your head," Fiona said just wanting to drop the subject. These were the type of people she wanted to avoid, the type who were persistent and didn't give up.

Thomas was about to speak again before Van came back with another small stack of books. He handed a few to Fiona and she took them. Thomas knew that they were ignoring him after that so he was forced to give up in his attempt. He walked away grumbling to himself.

The two of them worked for about another hour before they decided to call it quits for the night. It was nearly five o'clock by then and they figured that they had enough info to last them for a while. Now it was just all a matter of putting it all together to finish the project.

The two of them stood up and put back the books they were using before they left the library. "Are you walking home by yourself Fiona?" he asked her when he saw her walk off by herself once they left the library.

Fiona turned around and looked at Van when he asked that question. "I really have no other way to get home. I will be fine though," she said with a smile before she turned around and started to walk home again.

Van watched her walking away for a few moments before he ran up and started to walk next to her. "I'll walk you home if it isn't too much trouble," he said a little embarrassed. He hoped that she wouldn't mind.

Fiona looked at Van and smiled. There was something comforting about having him by her side now. Yesterday she was able to tell him things that she didn't normally tell anyone. She wasn't sure why she had done that anyways. "I guess that would be alright," she said with a smile.

They walked in silence. Fiona stole a quick look at Van. She had to admit that if he was trying to get a date out of her, he was on the right track unlike those who just come right out and say that they wanted to go on a date with her. She was kind of glad that he would rather take it at her own pace.

The two of them walked in silence the entire way there. Fiona smiled at Van when they got there. "Thanks for walking me home. I'll see you tomorrow," she said before walking into her house. She may distance herself from people but that didn't stop her from being polite to them.

Van watched her walk into her house. To him, she was a complete mystery, one that he could never seem to solve. He had seen so many sides to her yet he could not figure out what it was that she was actually like.

'I just don't get it,' he said to himself shoving his hands into his pockets before walking towards his house. He wanted to get to know Fiona but no matter the comfort zone they almost got into, she kept to herself.

No sooner had he walked into his home than he was assaulted by an oddly happy mother. "Oh Van, I am so proud of you," she said happily as she hugged her extremely confused son.

Van looked at his mother as if she was crazy. He had no idea what she was talking about and a part of him didn't want to know. The thoughts of what she was talking about seemed to get worse and worse in his head. "Mom… what are you talking about?" Van asked staring at his happy mother.

"Oh why didn't you tell me that you are going out with such a beautiful young woman?" she asked and saw the startled face of Van. "I saw you walking her home on my way back from the store. How could you keep this from me? That was Fiona wasn't it. Such a sweet girl," she said letting go of her son and smiling softly but couldn't hold back the excitement.

"Um… mom, we aren't going out. I am lucky if I can get her to speak a few words," Van said sadly scratching the back of his head. "She just doesn't seem interested in any sort of relationship," he said trying to get away.

"Oh that is such a shame. I guess it doesn't surprise me though," she said before she suddenly covered her mouth realizing what she said. She quickly rushed out of the room before she ended up saying any more. She knew it wasn't anything that was to e said to anyone.

"What is it that everyone seems to know but refuses to tell me?" he asked himself thinking of how Irvine and Moonbay were trying to get him with Fiona yet wouldn't tell him what was going on. Even his own mother knew and refused to say anything about it. It was obvious that something bad must have happened to her.

"You know Van, Fiona is a great girl and all. Seems to have a great capacity for love or at least at one time she did. It might not be too good of an idea to get involved with her," his father said walking down the stairs.

"Damn it! What the hell is it that everyone seems to know about her that they are refusing to tell me about?" Van yelled finally growing frustrated with everything. His own parents and friends knew about it and yet no one seemed to find any need to tell him what the hell was going on.

"Watch your mouth Van!" his father reprimanded him. "Your mother knows because she was acquainted with Fiona's mother at one point. If she wasn't than she wouldn't know. Try not to get into something that doesn't need to be brought up, especially with Fiona?" Dan said walking into the kitchen.

Van finally grew frustrated enough and left the house in a hurry. Irvine wanted him to be with Fiona but refused to mention anything to him. He wanted some answers though and he knew that somehow Irvine was involved with it.

He ran all the way to Irvine place and pounded his fist against the door. It was opened by their butler a few moments later and instead of waiting for the greeting, Van ran straight through and up to Irvine's room while the butler just nodded and closed the door.

Van swung the door to Irvine's room open fast and Irvine sat straight up in his bed where he had been reading a car magazine. "Don't you know how to knock Van?" Irvine said a bit rattled by the sudden intrusion. "What's with you Van?" Irvine asked seeing that Van was mad about something.

"What is it that you are hiding from me Irvine? What is it that my parents know about Fiona but I don't? What the hell happened to her?" he yelled leaning against a wall waiting for any sort of explanation from Irvine.

Irvine took on a very serious face at that moment. "Don't know what you're talking about?" he said lying down on his bed before he was forcefully pulled off of it by Van. "Watch it! I am going to fall off," Irvine said trying to regain his balance since he nearly fell of his bed.

"You wanted me with Fiona to help her not me, is that it?" Van asked and Irvine didn't even bother to look at him. "If you expect me to do anything, how can I if I have no idea what is going on?" Van asked knowing it was a good question.

Irvine shrugged out of Van's grasp. "I told you before that I can't tell you. Fiona trusts me not to," Irvine said lying down on his bed again and staring at the ceiling. "Don't ask her about it either," he said as an afterthought.

"What happened? It must have been something bad with all of the secrecy. Was she raped or something like that?" Van asked suddenly feeling pissed at the mere thought of it. He was relieved when he saw Irvine shake his head no in response. He just wondered what it had to be.

"Van, I am giving you a warning. Don't get into it. Fiona will tell you if she wishes, although I doubt she will. This is not something you should get involve din," he said before standing up and walking out of the room leaving a still very confused and angry Van in his wake.


	9. friends

Fiona sat up in her bed quickly. Her breathing was heavily labored and she had a panicked look on her face. She let out a small cry as she immediately curled herself into a ball and shook with suppressed tears. 'Why can't I just forget about it?' she asked herself.

She stood up from her bed and looked at the clock. Even though she had tried to get to bed early it was still only about eleven at night. She knew she would be getting no sleep at all after her dream.

She walked out into the quiet halls. She hated living alone because her parents were never around for her. They were always away on business. She was lucky if she even got a conversation with them once a month. Even back then they were never around when she needed them the most.

She walked back into her room and got changed before she ran out of the house with only enough time to grab her coat for the cold night air. She just needed to take a little walk and think things through. She wished for someone to talk to but Irvine and Moonbay were probably asleep by then.

She walked all the way to the park and climbed up a tree that she always used to climb when she was just a carefree child. Back when everything in her life was great. Long before she met him.

She sat on the first steady branch and looked up at the stars through a small opening in the leaves. They were beautiful out that night. It was so calm and peaceful out that she wished that it could always be like that. To live in peace the rest of her life without anyone disturbing her.

She sat up slowly when she heard something approaching her area. She remained quiet as she listened in to make sure that it wasn't anyone with the intention of hurting her in any way. She could hear grumbling but it was too quiet to hear at that moment.

As it came closer the mumbling became clearer and she also started to see the figure in the darkness. "Stupid Irvine. He has a stubborn streak a mile long. It was a simple question. He could have at least given me some clues," Van grunted as he kicked a rock as he passed the place that Fiona was hiding at. He didn't even seem to notice that she was there at all.

'I wonder what he is doing out here so late at night. Not that I am one to talk,' she thought as she watched him leave. She wondered where he lived. He knew where she lived but no one seemed to know where he lived. It was like he was trying to keep it a secret from everyone. 'Why am I thinking about this? I barely know him,' she thought with a groan that made the man stop and look around. "Van," she said quietly. She figured that maybe she could talk to him. He seemed very good at listening.

Van looked around trying to find who said his name but didn't see anyone. He looked up and nearly jumped when he saw Fiona sitting up in a tree. "Fiona? What are you doing up there this late at night?" Van asked in confusion. She truly was a real mystery to him.

"I could also ask you why you are out here as well. Stalking innocent girls?" she asked in a halfhearted teasing tone. He just laugh and shook his head no. "Then why else would you be out here?" she asked as she climbed down the tree and Van gave her a slight hand the rest of the way.

"I was just talking with Irvine. He was being stubborn and wouldn't answer a question I had," he said preferring not to mention what it is that he asked Irvine. "What about you? Why were you climbing a tree at eleven thirty at night?" he asked staring up at the branch she was sitting on moments before.

"I couldn't sleep. Bad dreams were keeping me up," she said in a sad tone as she looked towards the ground. "In fact, I probably haven't had a good nights sleep in a while even since my dreams started coming back," she said as she leaned against a tree.

Van looked at her and had a feeling that it had to do with what Irvine wouldn't tell him about. He looked around them. "Care to go for a walk. We can talk about it if you would like," he said in a quiet unsure tone.

Fiona looked at Van. His statement almost made it look like he was asking her out. There didn't seem to be any ulterior motives to his question though. "Sure, maybe talking will do me some good," she said putting on a smile as she walked next to Van through the park walkways.

Van walked silently by Fiona. Not daring to say a word in case he might scare her away. Finally he just couldn't take the silence any longer. "So, what sort of dream is it that makes you walk around here this late at night?" he asked putting his hands behind his head and staring ahead of him although he was looking at Fiona out of the corner of his eye.

Fiona looked at Van for a moment. "Not really a dream but more of a memory," she said trying her hardest to try and not remember all of it. "Can we just talk about something else though? I really don't feel like talking about that at the moment," she said rubbing her head.

"Ok," Van said with a shrug of his shoulder. "What is it that you want to talk about then? Because I am coming up with a blank here," he said laughing slightly and smiled when he heard Fiona giggle as well.

Fiona thought of it for a second before she thought of something she remembered Van saying. "Hey Van, were you telling the truth when we talked in the park yesterday?" she asked and noticed that he was trying to remember what he said. She thought it was funny how he looked when he did that.

Van thought it over for a while. For the life of him he was trying to remember what it was that he had said to her. Then it hit him. 'Well, from what I can see, you are just like any other young woman. You have your obvious secrets. You are very beautiful, which is probably what most people look at when they see you. I see that you have this great personality if you were to open up to people,' he remembered saying a blushed.

He didn't really know what caused him to say all of that to her. It all just flowed out of his mouth naturally. He was always one for the truth though and he knew that it was the truth. He didn't want to push her away when they were finally getting towards a friendship.

"Well… um... what I meant was," he stuttered trying to think of some way to explain himself without frightening away Fiona. "I guess but… I'm sorry," he said hanging his head in defeat since he knew that there was no way for him to get out of what he said.

Fiona couldn't help but giggle. Seeing him squirm like he was made her laugh because it was really funny and she completely forgot about the reason that she was out here in the first place. "It's ok, I am kind of glad that you were honest with me. If I was to ask someone, they would only say it was because of my looks. You actually gave a good reason," she said with a slight smile.

Van breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't angry at him for saying it. "You wanted the truth and I guess that I have never been a person who gives only parts of it and not the entire truth. I sometimes feel as if I am no better than them," he muttered the last part silently and wasn't sure if Fiona had heard or not.

"What?" she asked hearing him mutter something but not quite understanding what it was that he said. He was about to open his mouth but she just put her hand up. "Never mind, maybe things are best left unsaid," she said putting her hand back down to her side.

"Don't you think that I am just like everyone else in thinking that? I mean everyone else seems to think like that. What makes you think that I am any different from them?" an asked wanting to know what Fiona's opinion on him actually was like. He did give her his opinion.

"I am not so sure. You seem to speak more from your heart. I know several people who would only speak with his lower head," she said in disgust. Those that ask her only seem to have the idea of sex in mind and she just wouldn't go through with sex with any of them.

"Those guys are idiots. They think of what is best for them and no one else," Van said before frowning. 'Am I any better. I am trying to be with Fiona because I want it but she doesn't. Does that make me any different from them?' he asked himself sadly.

"Yeah, they expect things from people that they aren't able to give. Like Irvine and Moonbay trying to make me start dating again and I have a feeling that you know of that," she said looking at him accusingly.

Van cursed himself for being honest. "If you want to know the truth, which is that that was their intentions this summer. My main intention for changing was to final be accepted although I do admit it did seem like a nice idea what they were doing. I see so much to you that I don't know. My opinion is constantly changing on what I want," he said honestly and waited for Fiona to push him away from her.

"At least you're honest," Fiona said giving him a small smile. It was strange. Knowing that he had wanted her didn't seem to bother her quite like what it always was with other people. "Thank you for being honest. It is not that people like me that bothers me, it is that they are so persistent to show it," she said with a halfhearted smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you if I did. I guess this makes me selfish just like them. I sometimes wonder if maybe it was worth it if you would just ignore me if you knew the truth," he said with a sad sigh while running his hand through his hair.

"Why would I do that? We're friends aren't we? Irvine thinks the same as you and I am still friends with him. I just don't want you to expect much," she said smiling at him although it still held her normal sadness.

Van was surprised to hear her say that. He thought that if she knew that, that she would just push him away. Yet she thought of him as a friend now. "Yeah, being friends sounds good," he said with a smile as he stared up towards the midnight sky.

* * *

Thomas seemed to be in a rather foul mood the next morning but it wasn't exactly abnormal for him to act like that. He was still in a foul mood because Fiona had decided to ignore him and instead decided to work with Van than go on a date with him. He just couldn't get what it was that he needed to do to get her to fall for him.

He scowled at everyone that walked by him but his mood suddenly brightened when he saw Fiona walking towards him. 'She is finally going to admit how much she loves me!' he thought happily but that fell once he saw her walk into their homeroom. He hadn't realized how close they were to it.

He quickly ran into the room and another scowl crossed his face when he saw Van and Fiona were sitting right next to each other talk. What made it worse for him was that she appeared to be laughing at a joke he was telling her.

"Just what the hell do you think you are doing Van?" Thomas yelled storming up to the two of them and pulling Van around by his shoulders forcing him to stand on his feet. "You just don't get it do you? Stay away from my girlfriend!" he yelled at Van who had a face that clearly told that he didn't care.

"Since when have I ever been your girlfriend Thomas?" Fiona yelled standing up and slamming her hands against the table. She had absolutely no trouble with yelling at people when they annoyed her enough and Thomas was definitely pushing his luck with her.

Thomas pushed Van off to the side and took a step towards Fiona. "But Fiona, what about all that we have been through together. I am sure that you love me," he said in a pitiful tone but he saw that Fiona wasn't affect in the least.

"Thomas, leave me alone! I don't like you; get it through your head because I am getting tired of constantly repeating it over and over again!" Fiona yelled before walking to a desk on the other side of the room as far away from Thomas as she could get.

Thomas ran after Fiona but Van got into his way. "Get out of my way Van. You may have changed but you will always be the weak child of a whore that you always were!" Thomas yelled but before he knew it, he was hit hard by two different people. A slap in the face by a pissed off Fiona and a punch in the stomach by a furious Van. He crumpled to the ground in pain and stared at the two of them.

"Don't you ever talk about my mother like that again or I will make sure that you never walk again," Van said in a furious voice as he kicked Thomas before storming away but that still left Fiona there as well.

"She is a great person and I won't let you talk about her like that either. She has helped me so much," she said kicking him in the stomach again and without seeing if he was ok, she walked towards where Van had sat down. "Sorry he had to say that Van. Your mother helped me once and I also couldn't allow him to say such a thing," she said patting him on the shoulder.

It was almost as if they had always been friends before then. One could easily talk to the other so easily and to think that it all happened because of one night of talking. Van was so glad for that, to be able to have a friend like her.

"Thank you Fiona. That means a lot to hear that. My mother deserves to be called something a lot better than a whore. She has done nothing but help me and others as a doctor. What did she do for you?" he asked not innocently.

"She helped me when I was in a lot of trouble once. It wasn't with rules or stuff like that but it still meant so much to me," she said with a smile. She was then forced to turn forward as the teacher entered the room. He just completely ignored the moaning Thomas and Fiona just laughed.

* * *

"You didn't tell him did you?" Moonbay asked Irvine when he mentioned about what Van had come to him about the previous night. She saw him nod and gave a sigh of relief. Maybe it is best to just forget about it all either way," Moonbay said with a sigh of relief.

They both walked through the lunch line and picked up the normal horrible food that they served. "Tuna surprise huh? I wonder what the surprise is this time," Moonbay said poking at her food.

"I think it is that it is still alive," Irvine said poking the thing cautiously. He was too afraid to take a bite out of the food for fear that what he said was actually true. He looked up as the exited the lunch line and couldn't help but laugh. "He's better than I thought," he said staring the direction of their normal table.

"What do you mean by that Irvine?" Moonbay asked and looked in the direction that he pointed in. "Wow! I expected it to take a lot longer than that for him to get on Fiona's good side. She is usually a lot more cautious about anyone," Moonbay said in admiration as she watched Van and Fiona having a nice conversation.

"I don't see it as too much of a surprise. The two of them have a lot in common. Van has been there when she needed someone to talk to and she must have seen that," Irvine said as they walked towards the table. "Hey you two. You sure seem to be talking a lot," he said with a smirk.

"Yeah, we have just found a friendship with each other. He so easy to talk to as well. And so honest about things as well," Fiona said shooting a glare at the two of them and they knew they were busted. They shot glares at Van in response.

"It was his idea, we swear!" the two of them yelled at the same time as they backed away slightly. "We had absolutely nothing to do with it!" they yelled in unison again moving farther and farther away.

"I didn't even think about it until you offered me the help. Although I am grateful, I don't think that she is very happy about it," he said pointing towards Fiona. The two of them shot off like a bullet and Van and Fiona burst out into laughter. "I can't believe they actually thought we would do something," he said with a laugh.

"That will teach them to stop butting into my life," Fiona said although in a way she was grateful. One day as Van's friend and she felt like she could trust him unlike the others that have tried and failed horribly.

"Hey, are we going to meet in the library again after school? We still have some things we need to get done for the project. I can put the presentation together but we still need a few more bits of information left to find," Van said and Fiona nodded in agreement.

"That would probably be the best way to do this. We still need to organize all of the information. I will do that since you are putting the presentation together," she said and he nodded in agreement. Fiona just couldn't understand her logic. She wanted to keep her distance from him at any cost yet he was becoming a really good friend very quickly. Much more quickly than she was comfortable with.

The bell then rang and Van and Fiona stood up. "Ok then, I will meet you there when school ends. Hopefully everything will be together by the end of the day so we can finish this," he said with a smile before he walked in the direction of his next class which was pretty much the only one he didn't have with Fiona.

Fiona walked in the direction of her class but groaned when Thomas jumped out of no where. 'Oh god no,' she groaned and ran her hand through her hair. She did not feel up to dealing with that creep right then. "What do you want Thomas?" she asked since he wouldn't let her walk by him.

Thomas just smiled at her and took her hand but she pulled it back from him just as quickly. He decided to get to the point. "I just wanted to say sorry to you if I was out of line earlier today. Do you forgive me?" Thomas asked in what had to be the most pathetic fake sympathetic voice.

"You should be telling that to Van, not me. You were the one that insulted his mother. You don't even know her either so I wouldn't be saying anything about her," Fiona said trying to walk by but he continued to block her path. "Move Thomas, I have to get to class," Fiona groaned.

"I just wanted to see if you wanted to go to the movies with me after school today," Thomas said in a voice that he thought was so charming when in fact it wasn't. He didn't see how she could refuse.

"I have work to do, so no," she said and quickly squeezed by him before she could stop her. Unfortunately he grabbed her arm and stopped her from moving. "let go Thomas!" Fiona yelled at him. He was really starting to scare her.

"Why do you never accept any of my invitations? I can give you far more than Van ever can! Skip whatever you have with him and just come with me. I can show you that I can give you more than him," he said but she pulled her arm away and walked away quickly. "This isn't over Fiona. I am sure you will accept eventually,' she said before heading towards his class.


	10. sick

Silence was passing over their table in the library as Fiona jotted a few things from Van's notes into her notebook. Yet she couldn't seem to focus on any of the information that was in front of her.

Van looked up from a small book and noticed how Fiona was a little pale. His face contorted with a look of concern. "Hey, are you alright Fiona?" he asked placing a hand on her shoulder. He took it back when he saw her flinch slightly.

Fiona shook her head and smiled slightly at Van. "I'm fine, I'm just a little dizzy," she said putting down her pencil to rub her head slightly. She let off a sigh before getting back to work.

Van looked at her in concern. He then looked towards the clock and his eyes widen when he saw that it said that it was already well past five. "Man, I didn't know that we were here so long," Van said grabbing his backpack because he needed to get home soon.

"Huh?" Fiona said as she looked at the clock and was surprised as well. "No kidding. We better get home," she said grabbing her things as well. She felt so tired that she just wanted to get home and take a nap since she didn't sleep too well last night getting in rather late after her talk with Van.

"Come on then, I'll walk you home," Van said with a smile which she returned. He led the two of them out of the library and headed in the normal direction to her place. It amazed him how he remembered it so easily.

Fiona stole a few quick glances at Van but always averted her eyes away almost immediately. 'He's so nice to me sometimes,' she told herself as she looked at her feet while they walked silently side by side.

'No, don't put yourself through that Fiona. You'll only end up getting hurt,' her mind taunted her but she just shook her head to rid herself of any of the thoughts that she was having at that moment. She knew she couldn't be thinking these things, she just wouldn't allow herself to do that.

A hand suddenly came down upon her shoulder and seeing that Van was in front of her, she had no idea who it was and just freaked out suddenly. She let off a scream and swung a foot back hitting whoever it was that did that straight in the nuts.

Van turned around quickly and saw Thomas crumpled on the ground holding his family jewels while moaning pitifully. It reminded Van of what he looked like that morning. "Are you ok Fiona?" Van asked seeing that she still looked slightly panicked despite now knowing who it was. She also looked a lot paler than she did when they were in the library.

Fiona wasn't sure but she guessed maybe she overdid it with her panicking. She started to feel a little woozy. She swayed slightly before she fell but she felt herself get caught by a string pair of hands. "Sorry," she muttered trying to stand back up but only fell again.

Ignoring Thomas, Van caught Fiona easily. "Come on Fiona, we should get you to a doctor. You really don't look good," Van said helping her back onto her feet but not taking his hands off of her. He figured she wouldn't like it but he didn't want her to fall again.

"I'm fine Van. I just need a little rest," she said trying to stand on her own but Van wouldn't let her go. "Please let me go Van," she pleaded with him because she was starting to feel a little too comfortable in his arms.

Van didn't respond but just placed a hand on her forehead before pulling back quickly. "You're burning up. Come on. My mom should be back by now. She can take a look at you," he said leading her towards his place. He didn't want anyone to know where he lived but he figured he could make an exception this time.

Fiona didn't know why but she just went. 'At least I know I can trust her,' Fiona thought as Van led her in a slightly different direction than she normally went. She also noticed that the houses were becoming much fancier.

Van took a look at Fiona who was walking with a weak expression at his side. Although Van was letting her walk by herself, he remained close just incase she ended up passing out once again.

Fiona's eyes widened when she saw the size of the house that Van walked up to. The way he used to act, she never would have pictured his family ever having the type of money needed to buy this sort of place.

Van just led her up to the door without giving her a chance to question the giant house that he was leading her into. "Mom!" Van yelled hoping that she was close enough to hear. He smiled when he saw her walk into the room drying her hands.

"Oh hello Van. Fiona?" she asked taking notice of the blonde haired woman standing next to Van. It wasn't too hard to tell that Fiona was sick to her. "No need to say anything Van, I understand. Come on Fiona," she said taking Fiona's hand and leading her to another room.

Van just watched them leave but a question formed in his mind. 'How do they know each other? I know my mom's a doctor but she works with critical case people, not ordinary sick people even if she does know that type of stuff,' Van thought but knew he wouldn't get any answer even if he asked so he just walked towards his room.

* * *

"Just lay down Fiona," Tina said as she walked into a private office that's he had made just incase something happen to anyone in her family. The most she used of it was to patch up Van's wounds in the past from when he got beat up before he completely changed himself.

"Um… right," Fiona said taking a seat on a small bed that you would normally find in doctors offices. It wasn't very comfortable but she just did as she said as Tina pulled out a few tools from a small drawer.

"You seem to be doing much better than the last time I saw you. How are things going nowadays? I noticed you and Van seemed to be hanging out a lot lately," she said remembering the time she'd seen the two of them walking towards Fiona place.

Fiona took a look at the woman that she knew a few years back and smiled. "I'm doing better I guess. Van has been very kind to me though," Fiona said with a shrug of her shoulders as Van's mother took her temperature very quickly.

"That's Van for you. He can change in appearance but is still the same kind hearted young man that he was when he was younger," Tina said looking at the thermometer with a disappointed look. "According to this, you shouldn't even be out right now," she said looking at Fiona with a look of disappointment.

"I wasn't feeling too bad at the beginning of the day. It just started to come on as the day passed. Maybe it is because I haven't been sleeping well lately. My dreams just won't go away," Fiona said sadly as Tina did all sorts of medical things to her.

"Not surprising, you did go through something pretty traumatic. You should consider this though, it could have been worse than it was," she said giving an amused smile on her face although it was only halfhearted. "Have you talked with anyone about them, like your parents?" she asked jotting a few things down.

Fiona's eyes saddened a bit at the mention of them. "My parents won't talk to me anymore. They send money every once in a while but they won't speak to me anymore," she said clutching the edge of the bed trying to fight back the tears. 'No, I won't cry for them,' she thought shaking her head.

"Some parents they are. I would never abandon Van or Maria if something like what happened to you. You made a bad choice and suffered consequences for it. Let me ask you something, I know you and Van are becoming friends, have you told him about it?" she asked taking Fiona's blood pressure.

"I would rather just forget about it all. What am I supposed to tell him? I once had a boyfriend who became so abusive that I was sent to a hospital for two months?" Fiona asked cringing at the memory of the event that continued to haunt her until that day. "I mean he could have raped me or something like that had Irvine not been there that day!" she said feeling herself starting to shake.

"Calm down Fiona. You are only going to make yourself feel worse," Tina said and watched as Fiona started to breathe easier. "Good. Why don't we just change the subject then? What caused you to nearly pass out earlier?" she asked figuring it wasn't just the fever.

"Van was just walking me home since we were working on a project at the library. A boy that is in our class named Thomas Shubaltz snuck up on me. I kind of freaked out because I remembered that day and after kicking him in the nuts, I nearly passed out but Van caught me," Fiona explained trying to stand up but was just pushed back onto the bed by Tina.

"I've heard of him from Van. He is supposed to be a person with an obnoxious personality. I met his brother once and they seem to have completely different personalities. Karl was always a good person who treated everyone equally," Tina said taking a few pills out. "Here, take these. They should help with your fever," she said handing them to Fiona.

"Thanks," Fiona said taking the pills and swallowed them with some water. "I suppose it would be too much if I asked you if you had anything for my dreams," Fiona said but Tina just shook her head much to Fiona's dismay.

"Sorry. Not my field of expertise," she said with a small chuckle. "I think that all you have to do is put it all behind you. You can't trust anyone because of the events from before. Although I think Van is actually getting through to you. There may be hope for you after all," she said laughing slightly.

Fiona's face darkened slightly but not enough to be noticeable to the older woman. "Thanks for the help. I should probably get going though. I need some rest," Fiona said standing up and walking to the door.

Tina put a hand on her shoulder and just smile. "Why don't you stay here for the night? It's getting dark anyways. I can have Van walk you to your place in the morning. I wouldn't suggest that you go to school for a day or two," she said seriously as the two walked out of the door.

Fiona stopped and Tina did as well. Fiona gave a sad smile and started to head to the door once again. "Thank you for the offer but I don't want to be a burden to you," Fiona said giving the woman a weak smile. A hand on her shoulder stopped her again. She liked the offer but she just figured that it would be a burden.

"Nonsense. If I can raise Van then having you here for the night won't make that big of a difference," she said and was happy when she saw Fiona finally give in and nod her head. "Good, we have a guest bedroom up the stairs and to the right. It is the second door on the left," she said before walking towards the kitchen.

Had it been any other doctor, Fiona would not even have considered accepting. Tina was a good friend to her though. When Fiona was hurt a few years ago, Tina would help her in any way that she could. Fiona almost considered her like a second mother. Although she liked her more than her own mother.

Her parents never accepted her going out with him back then. When she was seriously hurt. She knew they were saying, 'I told you so.' She hadn't been on speaking terms with them since. Whenever they were actually home from their travel for two or three days, Fiona would just ignore them at all costs and they did the same to her.

There was something though that also played a part in it. Something she didn't tell anyone. Not even the doctors. Hell, even Irvine and Moonbay didn't know about it. She intended not to tell anyone about it as long as she lived.

Fiona slowly walked up the stairs and followed the directions that Tina had given her and stepped up to the door but she heard yelling from the door right across from her room. She could hear Van's voice and guessed he was arguing with Irvine across the phone since she heard no reply but she did hear Irvine's name mentioned several times.

She turned around and was about to walk into the room when the door to Van's room opened and he walked out of the door and stared at her confused. "I didn't know you were still here," he said holding a phone in his hand.

"Your mother offered me a place to stay for the night since she didn't want me walking alone in the dark. It wouldn't matter since I do that a lot anyways but I just wanted some sleep so I just agreed," Fiona said resting her hand on the doorknob.

"Oh well. Good night then Fiona. Although my mom is probably done with dinner by now. You're free to join us as well," Van said in a very soft tone. One that he hardly ever used before. He never really had any reason to. She just looked so weak earlier that it just came out that way.

"Thank you for the offer but I'm really not hungry right now. I would really like some sleep so goodnight," she said before turning the knob. The door opened and she just walked into the room without another word to Van.

Fiona walked over and laid down upon the soft bed. They obvious had a lot of money to afford a house this large and a bed this soft. It was like no sooner had her head hit the pillow that she was asleep. Not once in a long time had she remembered that ever happening to her since that day.

* * *

Fiona's eyes opened to the darkness of a room that was very strange to her. The only light that was shown in the room was that of the moon shining through a window that was in the far corner by the door.

Fiona gasped slightly when she saw that there was a figure being bathed in the soft light of the moon. She could just barely make out the features to be that of Van's. "Van, what're you doing in here?" she asked covering herself up a little more with the blanket.

Van didn't respond but just quietly walked over to the bed. Before Fiona could say anything, his lips descended upon hers in a fierce kiss that was unlike anything she had ever gotten before. She wanted to get away but her body responded differently and kissed him back.

He pulled back slightly and Fiona slowly opened her eyes expecting to see the warm dark eyes of Van but suddenly found herself staring into familiar ice blue eyes of a man with blond hair.

* * *

Fiona sat straight up in her bed with a slight scream. The face always invaded her dreams and wouldn't leave her alone. It was that of her ex-boyfriend. The one that sent her to the hospital. She just knew that things would have been worse had she not woken up when she did. Usually it would end with him beating her just like that day.

The door to her room suddenly opened and Van came into the room looking a little panicked since he heard her scream from his room. "What's wrong Fiona? What's with the scream?" he asked her approaching her bed cautiously.

Fiona suddenly looked away remembering her dream. To her it was a bit embarrassing. "It's nothing, I just had a bad dream again," she said more indicating the final part because the first didn't bother her as much. In fact, if she was honest with herself, she would have said she liked it.

Van grabbed a chair that was in a corner and pulled it towards her. "I'm always open for talking if you want," he said looking at her as she sat up and leaned against the back of the bed. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her quietly.

Fiona grabbed her pillow and hugged it to her chest. She couldn't believe herself but she was actually considering telling Van about what had happened. She always told herself that she wouldn't tell anyone about what happened. She had no idea what it was about Van that made her do things that she wouldn't normally do. The man beside her continued to confuse her worse than anything else in her life.

"Maybe you should just get some more sleep. I should get going then," he said as he started to stand up but he suddenly felt Fiona grab a hold of his hand. "Fiona?" he asked seeing her pleading eyes like she was asking him to stay.

She didn't know what made her do that. It just that she felt comfortable with Van around her at that moment. "Please stay, at least until I fall asleep," she said feeling herself blush as she looked towards the floor.

"Uh… sure," Van said slowly as he took the seat again. He noticed that she just seemed a little scared at that moment. 'Probably wouldn't have even considered this if she hadn't of had that nightmare,' he thought but still found himself smiling as he stared down onto her peaceful face as she closed her eyes again and fell asleep.

Tina stood outside the door watching them through a small opening. 'A little push is all that they needed,' she thought as she quietly walked away from the door. 'They are perfect for each other. I saw that the first time I met her,' she thought with a snicker before running into her husband. "Oh, hello dear," she said putting on an innocent expression on her face.

"What are you up to dear?" he asked eyeing her suspiciously looking towards the door that he'd seen her standing outside of. "It wouldn't have to do with Fiona would it?" he asked narrowing his eyes slightly.

"I don't know what you mean. I just gave her a place to stay for the night so I could keep an eye on her because her dreams have been causing trouble," she said keeping the innocent look on her face.

"Some eye. Looks like Van's doing all the watching. There are closer guest rooms to the door you could have used but you chose that one in specific," he said eyeing her carefully. "As much as you can fool others, I've been married to you for too long to be fooled," he said causing her to chuckle nervously.

Tina hung her head in defeat. "She hasn't been able to trust anyone since that day. Yet she is actually opening up to him. So I figured that maybe it would help her more if she was around him," Tina said with a sigh but a happy look still on her face.

Dan still looked at her as if he didn't believe her. "And the fact that you want grandchildren has nothing to do with it?" Dan asked as an eyebrow raised in questioning. He could always see right through his wife's little scheme.

"Maybe," she said before walking right past him and into their room. 'He is probably the only person that can actually help her. Doesn't hurt to push them along as well,' she thought as she crawled into bed and fell asleep.

Meanwhile Van walked out of the room and walked into his own room. Fiona surprised him sometimes but seeing her like she was made him even more curious about her. Her past was a mystery to him and he wanted to learn more about it.


	11. truth

Fiona tossed and turned over and over in her bed. Her nightmare being one that was constantly on her mind over and over for two years. No matter what she did, she couldn't get rid of it.

Fiona sat up in her bed quickly drenched in a sweat brought about from her dream. Her breathing was heavily and brought her hand up to wipe the sweat from her forehead. She looked around her and noticed her unfamiliar surroundings.

'How many nightmares can a person have in one night?' she asked herself as she threw the blankets off of herself and stood up. She walked to the window and opened the curtains looking at the lovely scene before her. It was early, the sun was only starting to rise and the view from her current room made it look even lovelier.

"Lovely, isn't it?" a voice from behind her asked causing Fiona to jump and turn around only to see Tina standing there. She was in her work clothes which consisted of a white lab coat with decent clothes underneath. She had a mug of coffee in her hand and glasses on her face. Her hair was in a bun at the top of head.

Fiona gave her a slight smile. "Yes. You have a beautiful house. I wish I can wake up to this kind of view everyday," Fiona said turning around and staring out the window once more.

Tina entered the room and walked over to where Fiona was standing and enjoyed the view as well. "I know. Why are you up so early? In your state you should be sleeping a little more," she said as she placed her mug on the windowsill. She didn't hear Fiona answer so she made an assumption. "Another nightmare?" she asked softly.

Fiona's head fell a little and she just nodded her head in response. "I've seen people like you but I've never met anyone who has the same nightmare as many times as you have," Tina said with a sigh. "What really happened Fiona? You always leave out details when asked," she said sternly while staring at Fiona expectantly.

Fiona didn't want to talk about it but she just wanted to get as much of it as she could off her chest. "Even before it happened, he had been abusive to me. He claimed that it was only because he cared and didn't want to lose me but it continued whenever he got jealous of me talking to my friends," Fiona started off slowly.

It was quiet for a little while after that before Fiona took a deep breath and continued. "Irvine and Moonbay were always trying to make me break up with him but I was too afraid of what he would do if I did. So I never even tried," Fiona said absentminded rubbing a small scar that was on shoulder.

"If he was abusive for that long, you should've told someone. They'll get a feeling of power over you and they'll think that they can keep doing it again. At least that's what I think," Tina said as she took a seat on the bed.

"I know that but it's a lot easier said than done. Because of something that was happening to me then, I finally made up my mind and wanted to get out of the relationship. I was scared so I asked Irvine if he could help me. He came over one day so we could talk. He was always like a brother so I knew that I could trust him with just about anything," Fiona said softly.

Tina knew most of what Fiona was saying at that moment but she continued to listen hoping to learn more. Even if she didn't learn anything new, she hoped that just talking about it would be able to help Fiona out some.

"Irvine came over and we talked about it but what I didn't know was that Todd decided to pay a surprise visit as well. He found something when he somehow got in and started accusing me of things. He started hitting me over and over. Irvine tried to help but ended up having his arm broken in the process," Fiona said as images of that day came to her mind.

Tina couldn't help but wince at the mention of what happened to Irvine. Their family was close to his so she knew him well. He was a strong person and to be hurt so easily like that made her wonder what else the guy was capable of. "What did he find that made him do all this?" she asked curiously paying utmost attention to Fiona's tale.

"I don't know but he went out of control when he walked in to Irvine trying to comfort me. I was feeling horrible and I was crying. He was only trying to cheer me up and gave me a hug. He happened to walk in right then and he started to yell out loud how I was cheating on him and that I was nothing but a slut… a whore, and every other nasty word imaginable," Fiona said although she actually knew what he found that day.

"Fiona, you're horrible at lying, but if you don't want to talk about it then I'll just drop the subject," she said with a small chuckle. It didn't mean that she wasn't curious but she had no other choice but to not go into it if Fiona didn't want to talk about it.

'Thank god,' Fiona silently cheered. She knew she could talk to her about it but there was so much behind it that would probably freak Tina out more than Fiona wanted. "Each time he yelled, he would hit me and once he even took a knife out and started to place small cuts in various places," Fiona said as she started to shake even more.

"Then the police came. Luckily Irvine had enough strength to get to the phone fast enough for them to get there before he might have killed you. You were close enough to death as it was when they brought you in," Tina finished for Fiona.

"In the end, I had a broken arm, a broken leg, several cuts and bruised all over my body, and a stab wound in my stomach where he did stabbed me before he ran off. I was in a coma for nearly a month. When I woke up, I found I lost something important in my life. My parents left shortly after that and I've barely spoken three words to them since. Not to mention all the nightmares I've been having since that day," Fiona said finding it hard to stand so she fell onto a seat covering her warm face in her hands.

"It's something that no one should have to go through. You were traumatized and wouldn't even speak for most of the time you were in the hospital. What did you lose? Maybe if you regained it things would get better," Tina suggested willing to hear all that Fiona had to say.

"My dignity, my faith in men, and something that was far more irreplaceable. I could just go on about all that I lost. Some of those, I don't think I'll ever be able to get back," Fiona said although she was kind of feeling better after getting all of that off her chest. Two years worth of pain. Yet no matter how much leaves, it would always be there.

"Obviously you haven't lost all faith in men," Tina said with a smile as she glanced out of the room and towards Van's. "You took to Van awfully quickly. Anything about that you want to talk about?" she asked getting really interested in the subject of her only son.

"Van had just become a very good friend to me. There were a few times that he'd listen and just be there for me. He's a good friend but that's all that he can be. I don't think I can ever start dating anyone again," Fiona said grimacing as she clutched onto her pant legs. The dream she had came back to her but she just shook it off quickly.

"Van's nothing like him Fiona. He a protector, not a destroyer. Would it really hurt to just give him a try? Besides," she said with a grin as a thought came to her. "You two would have the cutest children," she said and laughed at how red Fiona's face turned. "I'm just joking with you Fiona. You took it a little seriously though," she said with a grin.

Fiona's breath sped up a little but she remained calm as she watched the older woman. She looked away for a moment but she eventually looked towards Tina. "It must be nice, being as carefree as you are. Almost as if you have no worries in the world," Fiona said kind of envious of Tina.

"I'm like this because I know that I won't be around forever. Yet I also know that no matter what, I'll have people who love me close by. Those that will stick with me no matter what I go through. Just like how you had Irvine and Moonbay in that time," she said smiling as she stood up. "Don't be so hesitant about the good things that are left in your life, you may just miss out on a great opportunity if you just shut everything out like you have been," she said before grabbing her cup and slowly walked towards the door.

"Wait!" Fiona said causing her to stop and then turn back towards Fiona with kind of a knowing smile. "Is there any chance for me to ever be able to be normal again?" Fiona asked twitching a little.

"There's always a chance if you're willing to take it. You were hit with unfortunate circumstances but that doesn't mean that you can just let it rule you're life. This was forced on you at such a young age but you still have your future ahead of you," Tina said before bowing her head slightly and leaving the room.

A few moments after that, a tired looking Van came stumbling out of his room. He saw his mother walking away from Fiona's room and then looked in at her a little confused. "What were you two talking about so early in the morning?" he asked her scratching his head in confusion.

Fiona couldn't help the giggles that erupted from her throat. It was just that he looked cute doing what he was doing. "It's nothing," she said feeling more at ease than she had ever been in a while. She saw him shrug tiredly before he turned and headed towards the bathroom. "Van wait!" she said causing him to stop.

Van came to a stop and turned to see Fiona walking towards him. She looked a little hesitant about something and that confused him a bit. "Is something the matter Fiona?" he asked a little confused.

'Don't be so hesitant about the good things that are left in your life.' The words spoken by Tina rung through her head. It made her realize that she wasn't being very fair to Van up till then. Up till then, she was basically comparing him with her old boyfriend and he didn't deserve that.

Fiona took a few steps forward until she was right in front of Van. "I just wanted to say thank you," she said before reaching up and she gave him a small kiss on the cheek before she walked back to her room quickly leaving a speechless Van in her wake.

To say that Van was shocked would be the understatement of the century. His hand reached up and lightly touched the place that Fiona's lips had been only a few seconds before. "Wow," was all that he could say. He didn't know what she was saying thank you for but he didn't really care because he was still too stunned by Fiona's gesture to even care.

Off around the corner, a woman was silently cheering the scene she just witnessed. 'There's definitely hope for her and I think it's in the form of my young son,' she said turning to walk down the stairs only to yelp in surprise.

Dan stood there looking at his wife with a curious expression on his face. "What have you done this time dear?" he asked and saw a guilty expression cross her face yet it didn't look like she really felt bad about it either.

Tina Flyheight just smiled a strange looking smile and looked up at her husband. "My job," she said before walking around him only to have him lightly grab her arm just to stop her. "Is something wrong dear?" she asked in an innocent voice.

"You're such a child sometimes sweetheart. You always give answers without actually answering the question," he said but he had to admit that was one of the things he loved about her the most. She could continue to grow older physically but she would never become too old mentally. Yet she also knew limits to how to go about it. She had her serious moments as well.

"You'd be disappointed if I didn't act that way," she answered him with a sweet smile. "And I was actually doing my job. A doctor works with patients to ease their pain. That's what I was doing for Fiona," she said before her face became a little more serious. "She finally opened up and told me what actually happened to her. She's also showing more emotion again," she said proud of her work.

"Psychiatrists weren't able to get that much out of her. So I find it a little unbelievable that you got through to her so easily," Dan said with a slightly skeptical look. "How'd you do it?" he asked her looking at her quizzically.

"I just happen to know what she's going through. I know her better than those psychiatrists. They're paid to do their job but I did this for free. Fiona's a good girl but just needs a push in the right direction," Tina said walking around Dan and down the stairs since she needed to leave.

Dan couldn't help but smile. He definitely had a great wife. At a young age she was considered a genius despite her immaturity. The two got married when they were young and had Maria shortly afterwards. Despite this, she still went to college and she somehow got her masters in only four years when it would take others a few more than that. Then they had Van shortly after that. He knew that Van and Maria were destined for great things, just like her.

Dan was about to follow after his wife when Van came running past him in a hurry. Dan looked at his watched and was surprised to see what time it was. "In a hurry Van?" Dan asked following Van down the stairs.

Van ran into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of toast before turning to look at his father. "Yeah I need to get going or I'm going to be late," Van said rushing towards the door but his father spoke and Van had to stop and turn towards him.

"Van I need you to escort Fiona home first. She is still a bit sick and your mother and I would really prefer it if you make sure she got there safely. We would take her ourselves but we need to get to work. Don't worry about school. I'll write a note to the office if you still manage to get there late," Dan explained and he saw Van just slowly nodded his head after the explanation.

* * *

The two of them walked silently towards Fiona's house. It was an extremely awkward silence brought about by that small kiss that Fiona gave to Van. It may have only been on the cheek but it still made them feel strange.

Fiona took a quick look at Van as he walked carrying his backpack and her own across his shoulder. She felt she could carry her own but he said wouldn't give it to her until they reached her house. 'I'm sick, not on my deathbed,' she thought a bit bitter about it.

Van turned towards her and asked her a question that was on his mind for a while. "So how long are you going to be out of school for? We kind of have the presentation the day after tomorrow," he said rubbing the back of his neck. They were nearly finished with it but there were still some work that they needed to do together.

"Oh no!" Fiona said suddenly remembering the project. She'd been feeling so lousy that she completely forgot all about it. "Your mom said at least two days. What are we going to do about finishing it?" she said as he brain scrambled for any sort of answer to the problem.

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to the teacher and tell him the circumstances. I'm sure the old man will understand. If you want, I can also come over later today and we can finish the project," Van suggested thinking it sounded relatively reasonable.

Fiona thought it over for a second and then nodded her head. "I guess we have no other choice. We need to get it done now or we'll not be able to get it done before we have to present," she said as they reached her house.

"Here," he said holding out her bag to her. He was kind of surprised how heavy the thing was. He wondered if she always carried a bag that heavy around all the time. "I'll see you later," he said turning in the direction of the school and started to walk off. There was something on his mind though. He figured she might not be happy about it and was contemplating asking her about it.

Fiona watched Van start to walk away and started to walk into her house. She suddenly saw him stop and then slowly start to walk back towards her. "Is something the matter Van?" she asked hoping that he wouldn't bring up what she did earlier that morning.

Van seemed to be looking anywhere but at Fiona. He rubbed his neck nervously and then looked up at Fiona. "Um… Fiona. I was wondering," Van stuttered and groaned. 'No preparing seems to be helping me with this,' Van thought sorting for anything in his brain to help him.

Fiona looked at Van quizzically. She wondered why he suddenly looked a bit nervous. "What is it Van? What were you wondering?" she asked looking at him. For some reason though, she felt like she knew what he wanted to ask. For some odd reason, it didn't bug her.

Van took a deep breath. 'I won't make the same mistakes as Thomas,' he thought putting on a smile on his face. "When you're feeling better, do you maybe want to go to the movies? Of course if you don't then I won't bug you about it again," he said the last part a little quickly showing how nervous he felt.

Fiona just stood there. She was slightly surprised but also had a strange feeling that was going to be what he wanted. Sure Thomas asked her several times but he was forceful about it. Van asked her as a real gentleman would.

'Don't be hesitant,' the words continued to ring through her mind and she felt a bit overwhelmed. 'You may just miss out on a great opportunity if you just shut everything out.' The words of Van's mother rang through her head as she stared at Van as he waited for an answer.

'Time to move on,' she thought putting a small smile on her face. "Sure, that sounds nice," she said and she saw him visibly let go of the breath that he's been holding while waiting fro her answer. She couldn't help but giggle.

Van couldn't believe his luck. He'd done what so many in his school had tried. He couldn't help but grin at her answer. "Great!" he said happily. "We'll talk about it when I come over later. I have to get to school anyways. I hope you feel better by then," he said waving before running towards the school before he was nay later than he already was.

Fiona watched him part. 'He's different from everyone else. He's actually sincere about what he says," she said before she turned and walked into her house once Van was out of sight of her house.


	12. Fiona's decision

Moonbay sat lazily in her seat with her feet propped up on her desk as the rest of the class did just about anything they could think of before the teacher came in to ruin their fun. 'I hope he's breaks his leg before he gets here,' she thought putting her hands behind her head.

A few moments after that, she noticed Van come walking into the room and what surprised her was the broad smile that was plastered upon his face. 'I wonder what's got him so happy. I've seen him smile like that before,' she thought as she saw him take the seat directly in front of her. "What's with you?" she asked him as she pulled her feet off her desk and listened having a feeling that she'd like what she'd hear.

Irvine, who happened to be half asleep already, shot his head up and looked at his two friends. He too noticed the broad smile on Van's face and his curiosity also got to him. "Will you stop smiling like that? It's giving me the creeps," he said knowing that Van got the idea that he was curious.

"Sorry, It's just that I can't help it," Van said chuckling a little nervously. He didn't know how Fiona would take it if he told Irvine and Moonbay about the date they had for that weekend. Or at least when Fiona was better.

"Alright fess up. I know something's up now so you better spill the beans!" Moonbay said as her interest was peaked at the way Van was reacting. She saw that he didn't want to answer so she looked over to Irvine and he nodded in acknowledgement. She was glad he knew what she wanted without having to say a word.

Irvine stood up and he saw Van look towards him. "Hey Van, can I have a word with you for a moment?" Irvine asked in a tone that didn't leave much room for arguments. He walked towards the door and then turned and saw Moonbay and a reluctant looking Van following behind him.

There was a still a few minutes before the bell rang but the halls appeared to be close to empty at that moment. As soon as Van stepped out of the classroom, Irvine caught him in a head lock and led him away from the classrooms.

Van struggled to the best of his ability but it was no use in getting out of it. Irvine was so good at it that Van was sure that even the strongest of people wouldn't be able top get out of it once they were stuck inside of it. "Hey! Let me go!" he yelled struggling even harder.

They came to a completely empty area and then they came to a stop but Irvine didn't relinquish his hold upon the shorter man. "Now will you please tell us what has you so happy? Answer or you're never getting free. I don't care about class right now so I could go all day," Irvine said with a grin as Van struggled harder.

"I don't know why I should tell you!" Van yelled struggling harder but Irvine just tightened his hold around Van's neck and he calmed down. "Forget it!" he yelled but Irvine did it even harder so that it hurt but wouldn't chock Van. "Fine! I asked Fiona out and she accepted. There! Are you happy?" he yelled as Irvine finally released his hold on Van.

Irvine and Moonbay were plain shocked at his announcement. Sure this it what they'd been training Van for all summer but they didn't think that he'd be able to get her to agree to a date with him so quickly. They tried to say something but no words came out of either of their mouths.

Van rubbed his now sore neck and glared at his two supposed friends. "Man, you didn't have to be so forceful about it you know," he said staring at his gaping friends. "I thought you two would be happy to hear it," he said being stunned at their stunned expressions.

They both suddenly grin and Moonbay threw her arm around Van's shoulders. "Way to go Van! I never thought you'd be able to do it so quickly!" she said shaking him around a bit. "Wow! You asked and she actually agreed?" she asked laughing in happiness.

Van groaned at their reactions. This is one of the reasons that he didn't want to tell them about this. He knew that they were going to react in this way and that was something her wanted to avoid with them. "What of it?" he asked giving them angry glares.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Moonbay said happily as she let go of Van. "This ought to be good. I'm going over to Fiona's after school today. Maybe I can even help her get things ready for it. By the way, where is Fiona? I want to talk to her now but I haven't seen her around all day," Moonbay said looking around them.

"At home," Van said as if it was the easiest thing to say. "He saw them looking at him and he just sighed in annoyance. "She came down with something and was sick last night. My mom made her stay over to keep an eye on her and I walked her home this morning when she was feeling a little better. I asked her then," he said knowing they would eventually ask for an explanation.

"You asked her when she was sick?" Irvine asked in disbelief. "You don't ask them when they are sick! They might give an answer that they wouldn't want to give!" he said not believing what Van did.

Van glared at him. "Her fever was almost completely gone by then. She wasn't delusional or anything like that when I asked her. She just gave her honest answer. I wouldn't ask her if she was extremely sick," Van said not liking the way that Irvine said that. He wouldn't be cruel enough to do something like that. "She wasn't even delusional when her fever was high. So don't accuse me of doing something like that!" he said glaring at Irvine.

Irvine held up his hands in surrender. He didn't feel like getting into a fight with Van/ He felt that he trained him well. Too well when he thought of it. Him and Van could go against each other and each was able to easily hold their own against one another.

"She'll be out for a day or two but only because my mother thought it would be best if she rests a little. Apparently she hadn't been sleeping too well lately from what I heard. Apparently nightmares have been a constant source of problems for her," Van said as he leaned against a wall.

Van didn't seem to notice the looks that Irvine and Moonbay exchanged at his words. 'Those nightmares still aren't gone? I thought they would have gotten better over the years,' they both thought almost the same thought without expressing them to Van. It seemed to be just between the two of them.

"I'll go over after school and see how she's doing," Moonbay said and she saw Van give her a look that said that he planned to come along with her. 'Of course he would. Even if she was feeling better. He'd be worried with his crush on her,' she thought with a smirk. She was kind of curious as to where that crush would take the both of them.

* * *

Fiona groaned when she woke up from a slight nap that she was taking when there was a ringing by her doorbell. She trudged towards it and opened it to see Moonbay standing there. She was surprised and looked towards the clock and was surprised to see that the school day was over. 'I sure slept today,' she thought as she turned towards Moonbay with a smile on her face.

"Hey there Fiona!" Moonbay said happily as she trudged into the house without being invited. "I heard that you fell sick last night. How are you feeling now?" she asked as she took a seat on Fiona's couch.

Fiona yawned as she walked over towards the couch. "I'm feeling better now thank you. Did Van tell you I was sick?" Fiona asked and she saw Moonbay nod her head. "What else did he say?" Fiona asked as she took a seat across from Moonbay.

"That the two of you had a date," Moonbay said with a grin but saw that Fiona frowned at this. Moonbay figured that the way that she said it made it sound as if Van was bragging about it. "Wasn't easy to get that one out of him. Irvine basically had to strangle it out of him to get any information," she said and she saw Fiona chuckle slightly. "Excited about it? Your first real date in two years," Moonbay said with a big smile at the thought of it.

"I don't know, I guess. Van was just so kind to me for the past few weeks and when he asked me. I just couldn't help but say yes. He seems really nice. Then again, he did as well," Fiona said fidgeting at the memory of the man that she once actually thought she could like.

"Van's nothing like that guy. He's knows his fair share of pains, just like you. Van would never dream of hitting a woman By the way. He was planning to come over to check up on you but he got held back at the last moment," Moonbay said remembering the events just after school ended.

Fiona managed a small smile. He had been so caring with her the last twenty four hours. When she was scared, he stayed by her side which somehow ended up helping her get her back to sleep. "That was nice of him," she muttered but Moonbay heard and just nodded her head.

"Heard you haven't been sleeping well. Have your nightmares been bothering you again?" Moonbay asked and Fiona just nodded her head. "I feel so responsible for it. It was all because of what happened that one night a few weeks before. I shouldn't have dragged you there," she said and she saw Fiona's eyes widen in shock and fear. "Don't worry Fiona. We may know the truth but we don't blame you. It wasn't your fault. I'm angry that you never mentioned it to us before we learned of it on our own," Moonbay said glaring slightly at the blonde haired woman. "So what happened to make it happen?" Moonbay asked hoping to fill in the blanks about what happened that night.

Fiona fidgeted even worse than normal. "More happened than just that I'd really like to not have to go through it all. Please don't make me!" Fiona pleaded as she started to shake awfully badly.

Moonbay immediately rushed to her friend's side and held her as she started to cry. 'Even if it was the event led to the attack. How can she be that sensitive to talking about it? Does she think we won't speak to her because of it? What actually happened? Irvine and I only know small details,' Moonbay said to herself as she tried to sooth the upset woman.

"Don't make me have to remember it, please!" Fiona continued to beg. To others, it may not be as bad as Fiona made it seem but after she was attack. It made it too hard to even think back to that day. It made her remember far too many things. She lost so much in the attack.

"It's ok Fiona. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Moonbay said as she lifted Fiona and sat her down upon the couch. To see her friend so helpless made her feel helpless knowing that she couldn't do anything. 'Something's definitely wrong,' Moonbay thought as she took a seat again.

Fiona calmed down little by little and the just sat there with her knees pulled to her chest. She wouldn't look at Moonbay even though the taller woman was trying to get her attention. 'No one understands what happened,' she thought clenching her hands into fists.

Moonbay sighed knowing it would be useless to try and get more out of Fiona. 'So she kissed someone else and her boyfriend got upset. It doesn't seem that big to make her act like this,' Moonbay thought staring at Fiona quizzically.

Moonbay just sighed in defeat before she put a bright smile on her face. "Now about this date with you and Van!" she said managing to draw Fiona's attention from the previous topic. "Where are the two of you going?" Moonbay asked with a grin spreading across her face.

Fiona looked at Moonbay for a second before letting out a breath knowing that she wouldn't have to get into the subject that she wanted nothing more than to forget. "I-I don't know. He'd said we'd talk about it later. He did mention going to the movies though," Fiona said as she thought over the conversation.

Moonbay just grinned even more. "So tell me Fiona. Do you like him?" Moonbay felt she just had to ask that. She saw the flustered look that crossed Fiona's face and grinned just like the Cheshire Cat.

Fiona couldn't help but blush at the thought of it. She honestly didn't know how she felt about Van. He was a kind person and a friend of hers but she couldn't tell if she liked him the way Moonbay meant or not. "I-I don't know. He's kind and all but I think it's too early to think like that or not," Fiona managed to stutter out and then was more than glad at the sound of the doorbell to disrupt the conversation. "Excuse me," Fiona said standing up and walking to the door.

She reached the door and opened it and her eyes widened at the sight of Van. She didn't know why she was surprised to see him when he did say that he would be by later in the day so they could finish the project and also plan their date. "Hey Van," She squeaked out. 'Why am I getting so flustered?' she asked herself as she led him into the house.

"Hey Fiona. Sorry I'm late. I would've come with Moonbay but those stupid teachers made me stay behind," Van said with a smile as he followed behind her. He couldn't help but admire her while he walked behind her. He shook his head to stop himself from staring and just followed her.

"Moonbay told me about that so don't worry. We need to finish up that project tonight so we should get to work," Fiona said as she walked into the room that Moonbay was waiting in. she immediately took notice of another grin spreading across the taller woman's face and just groaned in annoyance.

"Oh hey Moonbay. Didn't know you were still here," Van said upon taking notice of Moonbay. He didn't put too much of his attention into it as he dug through his backpack for the supplied he brought along with him.

Moonbay suddenly stood up and started to walk to the door. "Yeah, I was just leaving though. I'm sure that the two of you have a lot of work to do," she said before bursting out in laughter before walking out of the house.

Fiona fidgeted a bit nervously. She knew that Moonbay was making a suggestion instead of meaning the actual school work that they intended to work on. "W-we better get to work Van," she said a little nervously.

For Fiona, it was a little nerve-wracking to have Van in her home. No one besides Irvine and Moonbay had been there since that day two years before. She just couldn't seem to trust anyone enough to invite them over. She just hoped that Van was as good of a person as Irvine and Moonbay claimed.

* * *

After what seemed like hours, Van shut his book when they finally completed their project. He was surprised they were able to get anything done with how closed off Fiona had suddenly become. They were supposed to be working together but that's hard when one wouldn't talk.

He looked at her as she massaged her hand and frowned. "Are you ok Fiona? You're awfully quiet," he said and he saw her just frown in response. "I hope it isn't about what I asked you earlier today," he said hoping that it wasn't that that made her so closed off.

Fiona looked up at Van and forced a smile on her face. "No, it isn't just that Van," she said before looking in a different direction. "I've just had a lot on my mind all day," she said as she stood up to stretch her legs.

Van leaned back in his seat a she watched her pace. He could tell that's he had a look of deep concentration on her face. It was as if she was thinking about something important but just didn't want to talk about it. "I hope it wasn't anything I did," Van said with a sigh.

Fiona looked at Van and couldn't help but giggle a little. She just shook her head no but it seemed to have hesitation in it. She then stopped and a look of concentration came over her face again. "Van, please don't think badly of me for how unpleasant I've been for the past few weeks," she said with a frown.

Van sat up straight and looked at Fiona quizzically. "I don't think that at all. I'm sure you have your reasons," he said as he watched her pace even more. He had to admit that he was curious as to why she was the way that she was.

"I-in a way. It's just hard for me. Everyone sees me as this perfect person at school but I'm anything but that. I've never had much luck with relationships so please don't expect anything from me. Moonbay and Irvine just expect way too much," she said as she looked into his confused eyes.

Van looked at her confused before he stood up and started to walk towards Fiona. "I expected someone like you to be good with stuff like that. Almost everyone in the school would want to go out with you," he said as he looked down at her as if looking for some answers.

Fiona looked down instead of at him. "People would expect that wouldn't they/" she asked and he just nodded his head. "Despite that, I haven't been on a date in over two years. Ever since my horrible breakup with my old boyfriend," Fiona said looking at Van and saw that his curiosity was peaked.

Fiona walked towards her couch and took a seat up it without looking back at Van. 'Maybe it would be easier for him to understand everything if I tell him the truth. I guess he deserves an explanation,' she thought as she watched him walk over and take a seat across from her.

'She had another relationship that ended badly? How bad could it have been to make her the way she is now?' Van asked himself as he watched her. He hoped for an explanation but he wouldn't push it if he didn't get it.

"Two years ago I was in a relationship with a guy named Todd. He was a little older but that didn't seem to matter to me. I couldn't say I was in love but I did like him, at least in the beginning," she said as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves a little.

Fiona didn't understand it. She still barely knew Van and she was telling him these sort of things. 'Maybe he deserves to know. He's been nothing but kind to me. If anything big was to start between us, he has the right to know before either of us deserves to decide,' she reasoned with herself.

Van just sat there listening intently. If she was willing to talk about it, the least that he could do is listen to it. "I'm guessing that it didn't quite go the way you thought," he said and he saw her nod but then she hesitated. "It's ok, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," he said with a frown.

Fiona shook her head. "No, everyone thinks I need to talk about it more so that's what I'm going to do. Maybe you deserve to know," she said before she shook her head to rid herself of the horrid images that were in her mind.

Van was shocked by her words. He didn't see how he deserved to know. 'Did I do something to deserve it? What was it then?' he asked himself as he watched her waiting for more. She wanted to talk about it, so he would listen.

"Everything was good for a little while but then he started to become abusive. He'd hit me when he saw me talking to other friends. Men or women, it didn't matter to him. He said he did it because he cared but I knew differently. Maybe I was just scared so I never tried to get out of it," Fiona said getting more images in her head of that time back then.

Fiona took another deep breath before she continued. "It became worse and worse until I couldn't take it anymore. I called Irvine to ask him for help. He was willing to help but when we were talking about it Todd showed up. He was not happy about many things but mostly that I intended to leave him. He ended up beating me up so bad that I ended up in the hospital. Irvine too ended up there but only with a broken arm. Your mother was my doctor then. That's how I first met her," she said glad to be finished with it,

Everything suddenly became very clear to Van right then. So many questions that he used to have were answered. He always wondered how Irvine got that broken arm that one time. He wondered how his mother knew Fiona. He wondered why she disappeared for a few months before suddenly returning. It all made sense to him then.

"I still have nightmares from that day. Like what you saw last night," she said before she suddenly made a short laugh. It had little meaning to it but it took more of Van's attention again. "After hearing all that; do you still want to go on that date with me?" she asked staring at him.

Van stared at her for a few seconds before a smile crossed his face. "It's in the past. I don't see why it should affect anything now. At least that's my opinion. The question I have is do you still want to go on it? I won't blame you if you changed your mind," he said as he watched her and waited for her answer.

Fiona was surprised with his answer and then thought over his question. 'He's still willing to go out with me even after hearing about my past?' she asked herself before she smiled. "I… I still want to if it's ok with you," she said feeling better than she had in a long time.

Van didn't even have to think about his answer. He knew that he still wanted it. He just wanted to make sure that Fiona still wanted it before he said anything. "Fine by me. How about I pick you up Saturday at seven?"


End file.
